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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. last — final
  3. object — a thing
  4. object — to protest
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. last — finally
  7. spring — a coil
  8. field — farmland
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. net — for catching
  11. foot — a measure
  12. object — an aim
  13. last — to go on
  14. field — a subject
  15. game — a match
  16. field — for sport
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. spring — of water
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. spring — the season
  21. net — in sport
  22. game — wild animals
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — for baseball

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