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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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. net — in sport
  3. net — after costs
  4. last — final
  5. spring — the season
  6. fall — to drop
  7. net — for catching
  8. degree — from a university
  9. pop — soda
  10. last — finally
  11. degree — an amount
  12. court — of law
  13. spring — a coil
  14. court — of a king
  15. last — to go on
  16. degree — temperature
  17. spring — of water
  18. fall — the season
  19. fall — to drop
  20. band — a ring
  21. pop — to visit
  22. court — for sport
  23. band — a music group
  24. pop — music

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