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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.

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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 · key · mate · mine · cold · kick · last · tear

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. last — final
  3. cold — not warm
  4. tear — to rip
  5. mine — for digging
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. last — to go on
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. tear — from crying
  12. kick — in football
  13. cold — an illness
  14. key — for a lock
  15. mate — a partner
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. mate — a friend
  18. last — finally
  19. tear — from crying
  20. mate — to breed
  21. net — for catching
  22. key — the most important part
  23. key — in music
  24. net — after costs

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