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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: wind · mate · tube · fork · drill · hand · net · clip

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. drill — a practice
  3. wind — moving air
  4. tube — a container
  5. net — in sport
  6. hand — in cards
  7. fork — in a road
  8. mate — a friend
  9. drill — the tool
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. wind — moving air
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. hand — help
  15. clip — a video
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. net — for catching
  18. tube — the underground
  19. mate — a partner
  20. drill — army training
  21. mate — to breed
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — to cut
  24. wind — to turn a key

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