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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: hand · mine · rule · file · foot · leaves · net · cold

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. hand — help
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. file — a line of people
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. cold — not warm
  8. foot — a measure
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. file — a tool
  12. rule — a law
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. net — for catching
  16. mine — for digging
  17. net — in sport
  18. hand — in cards
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. cold — an illness
  21. rule — government
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. file — a document

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