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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. net — in sport
  4. net — after costs
  5. last — finally
  6. firm — decided
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — a video
  9. rash — a series
  10. firm — steady
  11. last — to go on
  12. firm — a company
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. last — final
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. net — for catching
  17. game — a match
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — the season
  20. board — to get on
  21. clip — to cut
  22. spring — a coil
  23. game — wild animals
  24. board — a committee

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