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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. net — for catching
  3. net — after costs
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. chest — of your body
  6. degree — an amount
  7. tube — the underground
  8. chest — a box
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. degree — temperature
  11. firm — steady
  12. firm — decided
  13. firm — a company
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. degree — from a university
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bat — the animal
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. tube — a container
  21. net — in sport
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. chest — of your body
  24. pitch — completely

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