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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. kid — to tease
  4. snap — to click
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. stem — to come from
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. rule — government
  9. cell — in biology
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. net — in sport
  12. cell — a phone
  13. net — for catching
  14. capital — money
  15. kid — child
  16. capital — a city
  17. rule — a law
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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