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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. kid — child
  5. tube — a container
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. tube — the underground
  10. kid — to tease
  11. net — in sport
  12. bat — the animal
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. hand — help
  18. hand — in cards
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. wind — moving air
  23. net — for catching
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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