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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: toast · tear · net · bat · field · ruler

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. bat — the animal
  3. toast — a drink to someone
  4. field — for sport
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. toast — the most admired
  7. field — a subject
  8. field — farmland
  9. toast — bread
  10. tear — from crying
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. net — in sport
  13. tear — from crying
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. net — for catching
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. tear — to rip

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