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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. net — in sport
  3. branch — a division
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. rule — a law
  6. net — after costs
  7. net — for catching
  8. pitch — completely
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — a box
  12. track — to keep track
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. track — a path
  19. cold — not warm
  20. rule — government
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. chest — of your body

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