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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. fall — to drop
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. net — for catching
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. cold — not warm
  9. key — in music
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. key — the most important part
  13. fall — the season
  14. squash — the sport
  15. hand — in cards
  16. branch — a division
  17. fall — to drop
  18. hand — help
  19. cold — an illness
  20. net — in sport
  21. squash — to crush
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. key — for a lock

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