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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. When will it ________________ you to start?
  22. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. suit — in cards
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — an illness
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. file — a tool
  8. saw — the tool
  9. spring — a coil
  10. net — for catching
  11. spring — of water
  12. swing — in golf
  13. hand — help
  14. swing — to play on
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. spring — the season
  17. swing — music
  18. file — a document
  19. hand — in cards
  20. net — in sport
  21. suit — to fit
  22. suit — clothes
  23. net — after costs
  24. file — a line of people

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