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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. land — a country
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. net — in sport
  5. spring — of water
  6. court — for sport
  7. land — to come down
  8. spring — a coil
  9. stock — goods
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. stem — to come from
  15. court — of a king
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. stock — shares
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. net — for catching
  20. land — ground
  21. mine — for digging
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. court — of law
  24. spring — the season

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