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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. shower — rain
  3. degree — an amount
  4. land — a country
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. clip — a video
  7. net — in sport
  8. shower — to wash
  9. degree — from a university
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. land — to come down
  12. land — ground
  13. clip — for paper
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. sharp — clever
  16. chair — a leader
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. net — for catching
  19. degree — temperature
  20. clip — to cut
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. fork — in a road
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. fork — a garden tool

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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