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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. court — for sport
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. game — a match
  5. game — wild animals
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. field — a subject
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. net — in sport
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — farmland
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. court — of a king
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. court — of law
  19. kick — in football
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. net — for catching
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  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