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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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The people resisted their cruel ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. scale — in music
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. ruler — for measuring
  6. field — a subject
  7. field — farmland
  8. capital — money
  9. field — for sport
  10. wax — to grow
  11. rash — a series
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. rash — hasty
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. net — in sport
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. capital — a city
  19. mine — for digging
  20. scale — size or range
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. net — for catching
  24. ruler — a monarch

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