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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. net — after costs
  3. pitch — completely
  4. land — a country
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. wake — a trail
  9. perch — the fish
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. land — to come down
  12. net — in sport
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. chair — a leader
  16. net — for catching
  17. current — happening now
  18. current — electric
  19. current — of water
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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