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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. net — in sport
  3. rush — hurry
  4. net — after costs
  5. pound — a weight
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. net — for catching
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. mine — for digging
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. fine — all right
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. clip — to cut
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. clip — a video
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. bat — the animal

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