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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. staff — employees
  3. fine — high quality
  4. rash — hasty
  5. kid — child
  6. fine — all right
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. kid — to tease
  9. staff — a stick
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. rash — a series
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. band — a music group
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. staff — employees
  17. deal — to handle
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. net — for catching
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. band — a ring
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. net — in sport
  24. straw — dry grass

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