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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. pass — a permit
  3. spell — magic
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. hand — in cards
  7. hand — help
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. spell — letters
  10. net — in sport
  11. mine — for digging
  12. saw — the tool
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. pitch — completely
  15. net — after costs
  16. spell — a short time
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. net — for catching
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. bat — the animal
  24. saw — the tool

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