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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 116 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. I can't ________________ this cold.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. land — ground
  3. wound — an injury
  4. ground — the earth
  5. clip — for paper
  6. pop — to visit
  7. land — to come down
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. stand — to bear
  10. clip — to cut
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. perch — the fish
  14. wound — an injury
  15. ground — a position
  16. pop — music
  17. land — a country
  18. ground — crushed
  19. net — for catching
  20. clip — a video
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. net — in sport
  24. pop — soda

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