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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. cold — not warm
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. drill — army training
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. cap — a hat
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. drill — a practice
  9. cold — an illness
  10. chip — for betting
  11. land — to come down
  12. land — ground
  13. land — a country
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. net — in sport
  16. net — for catching
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. cap — a lid
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. cap — of ice
  22. chip — to eat
  23. lie — to recline
  24. drill — the tool

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