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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. net — after costs
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. bound — certain
  7. chest — of your body
  8. spring — a coil
  9. spring — the season
  10. net — for catching
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bound — obliged
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. net — in sport
  16. sharp — clever
  17. wake — a trail
  18. hand — in cards
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. spring — of water
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. chest — a box
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. bound — tied together

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