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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. rash — hasty
  3. drill — a practice
  4. field — for sport
  5. drill — army training
  6. race — the arms race
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. root — the cause
  10. net — for catching
  11. race — a contest
  12. rash — a series
  13. field — a subject
  14. tube — the underground
  15. race — humankind
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. tube — a container
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. root — of a plant
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. root — of a word
  22. field — farmland
  23. drill — the tool
  24. net — in sport

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