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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — in sport
  3. staff — employees
  4. staff — employees
  5. tube — the underground
  6. land — ground
  7. march — music
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. net — for catching
  10. court — of a king
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. mine — for digging
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. tube — a container
  15. march — the month
  16. land — to come down
  17. court — of law
  18. staff — a stick
  19. court — for sport
  20. march — the month
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. land — a country
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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