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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. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  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. club — a group
  3. snap — to click
  4. net — in sport
  5. pass — a permit
  6. net — for catching
  7. content — happy
  8. cold — not warm
  9. tube — a container
  10. rule — a law
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. club — for dancing
  13. tube — the underground
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. pass — to succeed
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. content — the amount
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rule — government
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. club — for golf
  23. rule — to rule out
  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