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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 120 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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. cue — a signal
  4. cue — a hint
  5. net — for catching
  6. kick — in football
  7. rush — hurry
  8. net — in sport
  9. ruler — a monarch
  10. hand — help
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cue — for pool
  14. field — for sport
  15. hand — in cards
  16. clip — to cut
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. clip — a video
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. field — a subject
  24. field — farmland

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