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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: chair · wound · pop · rule · spring · can · fall · net

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. net — for catching
  4. wound — an injury
  5. pop — music
  6. fall — to drop
  7. wound — an injury
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. can — a tin
  10. chair — a leader
  11. rule — government
  12. fall — to drop
  13. net — in sport
  14. pop — to visit
  15. pop — soda
  16. can — to be able to
  17. fall — the season
  18. rule — a law
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. spring — a coil
  21. spring — the season
  22. spring — of water
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. can — a tin

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