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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. net — after costs
  3. scale — size or range
  4. chair — a leader
  5. net — in sport
  6. scale — in music
  7. saw — the tool
  8. last — to go on
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. staff — employees
  11. saw — the tool
  12. land — a country
  13. land — ground
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. staff — employees
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. net — for catching
  18. land — to come down
  19. staff — a stick
  20. hand — in cards
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. last — final
  23. last — finally
  24. hand — part of the body

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