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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. fine — high quality
  5. kid — to tease
  6. net — for catching
  7. fine — all right
  8. cap — a hat
  9. land — a country
  10. kid — child
  11. land — ground
  12. land — to come down
  13. net — in sport
  14. spring — a coil
  15. track — to keep track
  16. game — wild animals
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. track — a song
  19. cap — of ice
  20. cap — a lid
  21. game — a match
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — of water
  24. track — a path

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