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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. scale — size or range
  4. track — a path
  5. track — a song
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. scale — in music
  8. net — for catching
  9. prune — to trim
  10. row — a line
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. track — to keep track
  13. prune — to trim
  14. file — a line of people
  15. swing — music
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. hand — help
  18. net — in sport
  19. file — a document
  20. swing — in golf
  21. row — to paddle
  22. hand — in cards
  23. swing — to play on
  24. file — a tool

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