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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. rest — what's left
  4. bat — the animal
  5. band — a music group
  6. net — for catching
  7. band — a ring
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. court — of a king
  12. court — of law
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. hand — help
  15. rest — what's left
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. court — for sport
  18. wind — moving air
  19. net — in sport
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. rest — a break
  22. wind — moving air
  23. snap — to click
  24. hand — in cards

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