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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: deal · chest · wind · bat · date · clip · rest · net

  1. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. wind — moving air
  4. rest — a break
  5. clip — to cut
  6. rest — what's left
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. wind — moving air
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — a box
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. deal — to handle
  16. bat — the animal
  17. net — in sport
  18. net — after costs
  19. clip — a video
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. net — for catching
  23. rest — what's left
  24. date — the fruit

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