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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. net — for catching
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. swing — to play on
  6. game — wild animals
  7. scale — size or range
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. wound — an injury
  10. hand — in cards
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. hand — help
  14. saw — the tool
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. net — in sport
  18. scale — in music
  19. chair — a leader
  20. game — a match
  21. net — after costs
  22. swing — in golf
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. swing — music

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