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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. chest — of your body
  5. can — a tin
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. chest — a box
  9. saw — the tool
  10. net — for catching
  11. saw — the tool
  12. can — a tin
  13. hand — in cards
  14. branch — a division
  15. chest — of your body
  16. net — in sport
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. hand — help
  20. net — after costs
  21. can — to be able to
  22. bat — the animal
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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