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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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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: last · net · rush · fan · lie · clip · cold · bound

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. clip — to cut
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. last — finally
  7. last — final
  8. cold — an illness
  9. net — for catching
  10. clip — for paper
  11. net — in sport
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. bound — obliged
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. last — to go on
  18. bound — tied together
  19. lie — to recline
  20. clip — a video
  21. bound — certain
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. rush — hurry
  24. cold — not warm

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