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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. net — after costs
  3. wound — an injury
  4. stock — shares
  5. kid — child
  6. net — in sport
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. tear — from crying
  11. stock — goods
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. mark — a trace
  16. mark — a grade
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. wound — an injury
  19. tear — from crying
  20. pound — a weight
  21. tear — to rip
  22. saw — the tool
  23. saw — the tool
  24. net — for catching

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