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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. spring — of water
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. stock — goods
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. net — for catching
  7. stock — shares
  8. branch — a division
  9. spring — a coil
  10. club — a group
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. sharp — clever
  17. spring — the season
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. clip — a video
  20. net — in sport
  21. club — for dancing
  22. tube — a container
  23. club — for golf
  24. tube — the underground

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