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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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. march — the month
  4. march — music
  5. chest — a box
  6. row — a line
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. bulb — for light
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. bulb — for light
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. chest — of your body
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. march — the month
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. row — to paddle
  20. bat — the animal
  21. pound — a weight
  22. bulb — of a plant
  23. net — for catching
  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