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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 116 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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. net — in sport
  3. mine — for digging
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. branch — a division
  10. hand — in cards
  11. net — after costs
  12. net — for catching
  13. track — a song
  14. wound — an injury
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. scale — in music
  17. wound — an injury
  18. scale — size or range
  19. track — to keep track
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. track — a path
  22. rash — a series
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. hand — help

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