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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. net — after costs
  3. stand — to bear
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. cap — of ice
  6. capital — money
  7. field — farmland
  8. clip — to cut
  9. root — of a word
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. clip — a video
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. cap — a hat
  14. stand — for spectators
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. capital — a city
  17. clip — for paper
  18. root — the cause
  19. net — for catching
  20. root — of a plant
  21. field — for sport
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. net — in sport
  24. cap — a lid

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