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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: last · pound · net · bat · firm · saw

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. firm — decided
  3. net — after costs
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. last — finally
  6. firm — a company
  7. saw — the tool
  8. net — in sport
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. saw — the tool
  12. net — for catching
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. last — to go on
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. firm — steady
  17. pound — a weight
  18. bat — the animal

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