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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. chest — a box
  4. branch — a division
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. spell — letters
  8. spell — a short time
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. wind — moving air
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. wind — moving air
  13. content — happy
  14. spell — magic
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. content — the amount
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. chest — of your body
  19. net — in sport
  20. rule — a law
  21. rule — government
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. net — for catching
  24. chest — of your body

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