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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're almost out of ________________.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. pop — soda
  3. roll — a cake
  4. net — in sport
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. last — final
  8. last — to go on
  9. field — farmland
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. field — for sport
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. roll — a list
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. last — finally
  16. field — a subject
  17. court — for sport
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. net — for catching
  20. kick — in football
  21. pop — to visit
  22. court — of a king
  23. court — of law
  24. pop — 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