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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. club — a group
  3. net — for catching
  4. net — after costs
  5. game — wild animals
  6. cell — a phone
  7. game — a match
  8. shower — rain
  9. club — for dancing
  10. press — to push
  11. club — for golf
  12. press — newspapers
  13. press — a publisher
  14. cell — in biology
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. net — in sport
  17. shower — to wash
  18. 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