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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — in sport
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. kid — child
  5. fall — the season
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. hand — help
  8. fall — to drop
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. stock — goods
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. hand — in cards
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. mark — a trace
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. kid — to tease
  17. mark — a grade
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. bat — the animal
  20. net — for catching
  21. stock — shares
  22. fall — to drop
  23. perch — the fish
  24. hand — part of the body

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