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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. pit — a hole
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. net — in sport
  6. rule — a law
  7. court — for sport
  8. file — a line of people
  9. game — wild animals
  10. fall — the season
  11. file — a document
  12. game — a match
  13. net — for catching
  14. court — of law
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. fall — to drop
  17. file — a tool
  18. rule — government
  19. court — of a king
  20. fall — to drop
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. pit — in a race

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