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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. vault — a safe
  5. bound — obliged
  6. bound — certain
  7. content — the amount
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. bound — tied together
  10. rest — what's left
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — not warm
  13. content — happy
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. net — for catching
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. rest — what's left
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. rest — a break
  21. prune — to trim
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. net — in sport
  24. cold — the Cold War

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