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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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Word bank
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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: face · bass · net · wound · rash · cell · wind · kid

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. rash — a series
  3. net — after costs
  4. wind — moving air
  5. bass — low music
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. net — in sport
  8. rash — hasty
  9. kid — to tease
  10. wound — an injury
  11. cell — a phone
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wind — moving air
  14. face — to point toward
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. kid — child
  17. cell — in biology
  18. bass — the fish
  19. net — for catching
  20. face — to confront
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. face — part of the head
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. wound — an injury

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