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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. net — after costs
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. file — a document
  5. degree — from a university
  6. court — of law
  7. lie — to recline
  8. court — of a king
  9. degree — temperature
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. net — for catching
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. net — in sport
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. degree — an amount
  16. season — of the year
  17. file — a tool
  18. kick — in football
  19. season — in sport
  20. file — a line of people
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. court — for sport
  24. lie — an untruth

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