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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. wound — an injury
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. clip — to cut
  6. file — a tool
  7. rash — hasty
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. net — after costs
  12. file — a line of people
  13. wound — an injury
  14. net — in sport
  15. clip — a video
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. rash — a series
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. clip — for paper
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. file — a document

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