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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. net — after costs
  3. date — the fruit
  4. hand — in cards
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cell — a phone
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. net — in sport
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. net — for catching
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. plane — a tool
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. hand — help
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. kid — to tease

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com