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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 had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. court — of a king
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. pitch — completely
  7. net — in sport
  8. season — in sport
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. court — for sport
  12. stem — to come from
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. season — of the year
  15. scale — in music
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. court — of law
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. row — a line
  20. fork — in a road
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. row — to paddle
  23. net — for catching
  24. scale — size or range

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