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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. rest — a break
  3. branch — a division
  4. rest — what's left
  5. wind — moving air
  6. degree — temperature
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. capital — money
  9. cell — in biology
  10. net — for catching
  11. land — a country
  12. degree — from a university
  13. capital — a city
  14. land — ground
  15. degree — an amount
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. net — in sport
  18. rest — what's left
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. land — to come down
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. cell — a phone
  24. wind — moving air

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