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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. field — farmland
  3. chair — a leader
  4. net — for catching
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. field — a subject
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. stock — goods
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. mine — for digging
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. net — in sport
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. stock — shares
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. game — a match
  22. net — after costs
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. field — for sport

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