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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. rest — a break
  4. stock — shares
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. net — in sport
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — what's left
  12. stock — goods
  13. game — a match
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. date — the fruit
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. net — for catching
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. game — wild animals
  24. cabinet — ministers

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