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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. sharp — clever
  4. content — happy
  5. chair — a leader
  6. spring — a coil
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. cell — in biology
  9. land — ground
  10. spring — of water
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. land — a country
  13. cell — a phone
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. net — for catching
  17. land — to come down
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. lie — to recline
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. spring — the season
  22. net — in sport
  23. content — the amount
  24. chair — a professorship

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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