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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. net — after costs
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. pit — in a race
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. land — a country
  11. land — ground
  12. pop — music
  13. pop — to visit
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. pit — a hole
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pop — soda
  18. net — in sport
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. saw — the tool
  21. cold — not warm
  22. net — for catching
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. saw — the tool

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