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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 116 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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. net — for catching
  4. stock — shares
  5. land — ground
  6. degree — from a university
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. game — wild animals
  9. degree — an amount
  10. row — to paddle
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. spell — a short time
  13. land — to come down
  14. row — a line
  15. degree — temperature
  16. spell — magic
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. net — after costs
  19. game — a match
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. spell — letters
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. land — a country
  24. stock — goods

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