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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 120 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 seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. net — in sport
  4. track — to keep track
  5. kick — in football
  6. cell — a phone
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. rash — a series
  10. degree — from a university
  11. capital — a city
  12. track — a song
  13. degree — an amount
  14. net — for catching
  15. capital — money
  16. squash — to crush
  17. rash — hasty
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. cell — in biology
  21. degree — temperature
  22. squash — the sport
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. track — a path

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