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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. spring — a coil
  4. sharp — clever
  5. spring — the season
  6. court — of a king
  7. face — part of the head
  8. net — for catching
  9. face — to confront
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. fine — high quality
  12. net — in sport
  13. court — for sport
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bat — the animal
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. spring — of water
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. court — of law
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — to cut
  23. fine — all right
  24. face — to point toward

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