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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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: arm · degree · cold · net · stock · game · foot · tear

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. game — wild animals
  4. net — in sport
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. degree — temperature
  8. game — a match
  9. tear — from crying
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. tear — to rip
  12. degree — an amount
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. net — for catching
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. degree — from a university
  17. tear — from crying
  18. stock — shares
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. foot — a measure
  24. stock — goods

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