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

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. chair — a leader
  5. net — for catching
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. bark — to shout
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. foot — a measure
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. net — in sport
  18. march — the month
  19. cold — not warm
  20. march — music
  21. march — the month
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — the Cold War

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