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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. net — after costs
  3. row — to paddle
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. fall — to drop
  7. game — a match
  8. fall — the season
  9. wake — a trail
  10. game — wild animals
  11. row — a line
  12. content — the amount
  13. fall — to drop
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. net — in sport
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. net — for catching
  24. content — happy

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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