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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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  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. trunk — of an elephant
  3. degree — an amount
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. stem — to come from
  6. spring — of water
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. net — in sport
  9. spring — the season
  10. craft — a skill
  11. tear — to rip
  12. press — to push
  13. press — newspapers
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. press — a publisher
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. degree — temperature
  18. craft — boats
  19. spring — a coil
  20. degree — from a university
  21. tear — from crying
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. tear — from crying
  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