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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. That must've been a ________________.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. fork — in a road
  6. cell — in biology
  7. field — for sport
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. field — farmland
  10. cell — a phone
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. dip — to sink
  14. net — in sport
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. scale — size or range
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. rush — hurry
  20. net — for catching
  21. field — a subject
  22. scale — in music
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. dip — to dunk

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