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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 120 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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — in sport
  3. swing — to play on
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. march — the month
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. rash — a series
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. file — a document
  10. swing — music
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. ball — a great time
  13. file — a line of people
  14. sharp — clever
  15. march — music
  16. bark — to shout
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. ball — a dance
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. swing — in golf
  21. file — a tool
  22. rash — hasty
  23. march — the month
  24. net — for catching

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