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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. net — in sport
  3. chest — of your body
  4. net — after costs
  5. race — a contest
  6. race — humankind
  7. saw — the tool
  8. saw — the tool
  9. race — the arms race
  10. stem — to come from
  11. clip — to cut
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. hand — in cards
  16. chest — of your body
  17. hand — help
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. clip — a video
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. clip — for paper
  24. chest — a box

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