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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 116 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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Word bank
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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. net — after costs
  3. cell — a phone
  4. net — for catching
  5. tube — a container
  6. scale — size or range
  7. staff — employees
  8. clip — a video
  9. staff — a stick
  10. field — for sport
  11. clip — to cut
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. clip — for paper
  14. scale — in music
  15. field — a subject
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. staff — employees
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. tube — the underground
  20. game — wild animals
  21. net — in sport
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. cell — in biology
  24. field — farmland

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