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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 120 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 hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  18. The tickets are free of ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. swing — music
  3. net — for catching
  4. hand — help
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. swing — to play on
  8. wound — an injury
  9. hand — in cards
  10. charge — in control
  11. net — after costs
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. swing — in golf
  14. last — to go on
  15. wound — an injury
  16. race — humankind
  17. charge — electricity
  18. charge — a price
  19. net — in sport
  20. last — final
  21. race — a contest
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. race — the arms race
  24. last — finally

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