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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. band — a music group
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. date — the fruit
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. mine — for digging
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. bear — the animal
  9. file — a line of people
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. band — a ring
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. net — in sport
  15. file — a document
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. chair — a leader
  20. bear — the animal
  21. file — a tool
  22. net — for catching
  23. bear — to put up with
  24. trunk — of a tree

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