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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 116 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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. spring — a coil
  3. pound — a weight
  4. net — for catching
  5. rule — a law
  6. branch — a division
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. spring — of water
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. spring — the season
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — help
  14. race — humankind
  15. court — for sport
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. court — of law
  19. race — a contest
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. net — in sport
  22. race — the arms race
  23. rule — government
  24. court — of a king

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