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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
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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: land · cold · object · bound · hand · cell · pitcher · net

  1. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. net — after costs
  3. cell — a phone
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. hand — help
  6. bound — certain
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bound — tied together
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. object — to protest
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bound — obliged
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. land — ground
  16. net — for catching
  17. land — a country
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. land — to come down
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. net — in sport
  22. cell — in biology
  23. object — a thing
  24. hand — in cards

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