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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. sharp — clever
  3. ground — the earth
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. land — ground
  6. track — a song
  7. game — wild animals
  8. kid — child
  9. lie — to recline
  10. ground — crushed
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. net — in sport
  15. net — for catching
  16. ground — a position
  17. game — a match
  18. kid — to tease
  19. track — a path
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. land — to come down
  22. land — a country
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. track — to keep track

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