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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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. pass — to spend time
  5. net — for catching
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. bass — low music
  8. ground — a position
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. spring — a coil
  12. net — in sport
  13. spring — of water
  14. spring — the season
  15. ground — the earth
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. chest — a box
  18. ball — a dance
  19. ground — crushed
  20. game — wild animals
  21. pass — a permit
  22. chest — of your body
  23. ball — a great time
  24. game — a match

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