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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. net — after costs
  4. capital — money
  5. bat — the animal
  6. field — farmland
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. degree — from a university
  10. degree — temperature
  11. field — for sport
  12. capital — a city
  13. rest — what's left
  14. net — in sport
  15. degree — an amount
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. field — a subject
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rest — a break
  21. rest — what's left
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. cold — not warm

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