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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: wound · pound · firm · rash · clip · club · hand · net

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — an injury
  4. rash — hasty
  5. rash — a series
  6. club — for dancing
  7. firm — a company
  8. club — for golf
  9. net — in sport
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. clip — a video
  13. hand — in cards
  14. pound — a weight
  15. club — a group
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. firm — decided
  18. net — for catching
  19. firm — steady
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. clip — to cut
  22. hand — help
  23. clip — for paper
  24. pound — to hit hard

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