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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. net — after costs
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. pop — music
  6. pop — to visit
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — an illness
  9. spring — a coil
  10. net — for catching
  11. net — in sport
  12. key — the most important part
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. foot — a measure
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. spring — of water
  17. key — for a lock
  18. pop — soda
  19. squash — the sport
  20. squash — to crush
  21. spring — the season
  22. pitch — completely
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. key — in music

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