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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'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The tickets are free of ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. net — after costs
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. degree — from a university
  5. mine — for digging
  6. net — for catching
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. shower — rain
  9. cue — for pool
  10. file — a document
  11. shower — to wash
  12. cue — a signal
  13. degree — an amount
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. charge — electricity
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. degree — temperature
  18. file — a tool
  19. file — a line of people
  20. charge — a price
  21. date — the fruit
  22. net — in sport
  23. charge — in control
  24. mine — belonging to me

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