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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. net — in sport
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. net — after costs
  8. scale — in music
  9. pitch — completely
  10. net — for catching
  11. kick — in football
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. scale — size or range
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. wind — moving air
  19. mine — for digging
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. wind — moving air
  23. field — a subject
  24. field — farmland

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