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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. pass — a permit
  3. net — in sport
  4. net — after costs
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. rash — hasty
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. bat — the animal
  12. hand — in cards
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. hand — help
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. court — of law
  17. tube — a container
  18. net — for catching
  19. court — for sport
  20. court — of a king
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. rash — a series
  24. tube — in a tire

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