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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. game — a match
  3. net — after costs
  4. snap — to click
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. net — for catching
  8. can — to be able to
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. net — in sport
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. race — humankind
  13. race — a contest
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. pit — a hole
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. can — a tin
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. game — wild animals
  21. race — the arms race
  22. can — a tin
  23. pit — in a race
  24. fan — a supporter

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