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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. degree — an amount
  5. stock — shares
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. net — for catching
  8. stock — goods
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. craft — boats
  11. degree — from a university
  12. craft — a skill
  13. net — in sport
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. cell — in biology
  16. degree — temperature
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. cell — a phone

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