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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. tube — the underground
  3. land — a country
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. net — for catching
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. cap — a lid
  8. field — a subject
  9. squash — the sport
  10. field — farmland
  11. chest — of your body
  12. squash — to crush
  13. cap — a hat
  14. land — ground
  15. tube — a container
  16. net — in sport
  17. field — for sport
  18. land — to come down
  19. chest — a box
  20. cap — of ice
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. bat — the animal
  24. chest — of your body

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