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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. net — after costs
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. scale — size or range
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. scale — in music
  7. swing — to play on
  8. swing — in golf
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. net — in sport
  14. wind — moving air
  15. net — for catching
  16. wind — moving air
  17. cold — an illness
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. cold — not warm
  20. game — a match
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. swing — music
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. stem — to come from

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