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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 116 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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. band — a music group
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. hand — help
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — an injury
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. net — for catching
  10. game — wild animals
  11. net — in sport
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. fall — the season
  14. fall — to drop
  15. net — after costs
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. prune — to trim
  19. game — a match
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. prune — to trim
  22. fall — to drop
  23. hand — in cards
  24. snap — to click

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