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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. net — for catching
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. lie — to recline
  5. bass — the fish
  6. content — the amount
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. net — in sport
  9. field — for sport
  10. bass — low music
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. cold — an illness
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. content — happy
  15. net — after costs
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. field — farmland
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. field — a subject
  20. cold — not warm
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. nail — for a hammer

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