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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 120 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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. The tickets are free of ________________.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. content — happy
  3. net — for catching
  4. wound — an injury
  5. hand — help
  6. hand — in cards
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. charge — a price
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. wound — an injury
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. deal — to handle
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. charge — in control
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. charge — electricity
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. bat — the animal
  23. content — the amount
  24. net — in sport

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