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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. swing — music
  3. last — finally
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. net — in sport
  6. content — the amount
  7. game — a match
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. clip — to cut
  11. snap — to click
  12. clip — for paper
  13. last — final
  14. net — for catching
  15. last — to go on
  16. band — a music group
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. swing — to play on
  20. content — happy
  21. game — wild animals
  22. band — a ring
  23. swing — in golf
  24. clip — a video

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