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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: net · race · row · pop · wound · bat · toast · sharp

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. wound — an injury
  3. bat — the animal
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. wound — an injury
  6. toast — bread
  7. pop — to visit
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. pop — music
  10. sharp — clever
  11. race — the arms race
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. row — to paddle
  15. net — after costs
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. pop — soda
  18. toast — a drink to someone
  19. row — a line
  20. net — for catching
  21. toast — the most admired
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. race — humankind
  24. race — a contest

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