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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. scale — size or range
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. scale — in music
  5. face — part of the head
  6. land — a country
  7. face — to point toward
  8. degree — from a university
  9. degree — an amount
  10. face — to confront
  11. net — for catching
  12. land — ground
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. land — to come down
  16. rest — what's left
  17. capital — a city
  18. net — in sport
  19. rest — a break
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. degree — temperature
  22. rest — what's left
  23. capital — money
  24. fork — in a road

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