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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. net — after costs
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. stem — to come from
  6. game — a match
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. track — a path
  11. track — to keep track
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. net — for catching
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. track — a song
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bat — the animal
  20. net — in sport
  21. chest — a box
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. fork — in a road
  24. chest — of your body

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