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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. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. row — to paddle
  3. land — to come down
  4. land — ground
  5. date — the fruit
  6. pitch — completely
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. track — a path
  9. net — in sport
  10. land — a country
  11. track — a song
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. row — a line
  15. rash — hasty
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. field — a subject
  18. field — farmland
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. field — for sport
  21. rash — a series
  22. track — to keep track
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. net — for catching

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