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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: kid · game · rash · race · net · cell · bass · spell

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cell — a phone
  4. cell — in biology
  5. bass — low music
  6. rash — a series
  7. game — a match
  8. net — in sport
  9. race — humankind
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. rash — hasty
  12. spell — letters
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. kid — child
  15. race — a contest
  16. race — the arms race
  17. bass — the fish
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. spell — a short time
  20. spell — magic
  21. net — after costs
  22. game — wild animals
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. game — a kind of play

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