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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. wound — an injury
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. net — in sport
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. shower — rain
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. shower — to wash
  9. scale — size or range
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — a break
  12. wound — an injury
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. sharp — clever
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. scale — in music
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. net — for catching
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. rest — what's left
  24. perch — the fish

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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