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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. net — after costs
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. spell — a short time
  6. spell — letters
  7. staff — employees
  8. rash — hasty
  9. net — for catching
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. branch — a division
  12. spell — magic
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. wind — moving air
  15. saw — the tool
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. saw — the tool
  18. staff — employees
  19. staff — a stick
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. wind — moving air
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. rash — a series

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