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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — in sport
  3. land — to come down
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. pop — soda
  6. net — for catching
  7. scale — size or range
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. squash — the sport
  10. scale — in music
  11. field — for sport
  12. chip — for betting
  13. pop — to visit
  14. pop — music
  15. squash — to crush
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. land — ground
  18. field — a subject
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. land — a country
  21. chip — to eat
  22. wake — a trail
  23. field — farmland
  24. scale — for weighing

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