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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 120 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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. field — a subject
  3. net — in sport
  4. deal — a big deal
  5. capital — a city
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. net — after costs
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. saw — the tool
  10. saw — the tool
  11. cold — an illness
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. stock — goods
  14. field — farmland
  15. mark — a trace
  16. net — for catching
  17. capital — money
  18. cold — not warm
  19. mark — a grade
  20. stock — shares
  21. deal — to handle
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. field — for sport
  24. cold — the Cold War

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