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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. field — farmland
  3. fall — the season
  4. field — for sport
  5. fall — to drop
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. rock — a stone
  8. bulb — for light
  9. field — a subject
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. chest — of your body
  12. rock — music
  13. chest — of your body
  14. row — to paddle
  15. fall — to drop
  16. net — for catching
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. kid — child
  19. net — in sport
  20. kid — to tease
  21. bulb — for light
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. row — a line
  24. chest — a box

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