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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. staff — employees
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. net — after costs
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. net — in sport
  7. clip — to cut
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. staff — a stick
  10. mine — for digging
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. clip — for paper
  13. file — a line of people
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. staff — employees
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. clip — a video
  18. file — a document
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. net — for catching
  22. lean — to bend
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. file — a tool

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