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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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 — in sport
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. mate — a partner
  4. cold — not warm
  5. net — after costs
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. foot — a measure
  8. mine — for digging
  9. net — for catching
  10. mate — to breed
  11. scale — size or range
  12. scale — in music
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. mate — a friend
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. chest — a box
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — of your body
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. cold — an illness
  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