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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. cell — a phone
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. squash — to crush
  5. swing — to play on
  6. swing — in golf
  7. wound — an injury
  8. net — for catching
  9. net — in sport
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. key — for a lock
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. firm — a company
  14. firm — steady
  15. cold — an illness
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. key — the most important part
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cold — not warm
  20. firm — decided
  21. swing — music
  22. squash — the sport
  23. cell — in biology
  24. key — in music

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