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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. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. net — after costs
  3. net — in sport
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. race — a contest
  8. rule — government
  9. rule — a law
  10. spring — a coil
  11. race — the arms race
  12. spring — the season
  13. net — for catching
  14. saw — the tool
  15. saw — the tool
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. march — the month
  18. march — the month
  19. race — humankind
  20. march — music
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. spring — of water
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. scale — size or range

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