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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. march — music
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. net — in sport
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. rash — a series
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. field — for sport
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. rash — hasty
  11. field — farmland
  12. march — the month
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. band — a music group
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. cell — a phone
  17. march — the month
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. cell — in biology
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. band — a ring
  23. field — a subject
  24. net — for catching

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