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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. capital — a city
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. field — a subject
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. land — ground
  7. capital — money
  8. chip — to eat
  9. kid — child
  10. chip — for betting
  11. key — the most important part
  12. net — in sport
  13. kid — to tease
  14. land — a country
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. net — for catching
  17. field — farmland
  18. land — to come down
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. field — for sport
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. key — in music
  24. key — for a lock

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