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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. net — for catching
  3. season — of the year
  4. net — after costs
  5. prune — to trim
  6. ground — the earth
  7. ground — crushed
  8. game — wild animals
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. ball — a dance
  12. season — in sport
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. capital — a city
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. ground — a position
  21. capital — money
  22. ball — a great time
  23. net — in sport
  24. bat — the animal

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