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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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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: charge · bowl · tear · net · pound · march · current · last

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. march — music
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. last — final
  5. charge — electricity
  6. charge — a price
  7. last — finally
  8. tear — from crying
  9. charge — in control
  10. current — of water
  11. last — to go on
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. net — for catching
  14. tear — from crying
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. current — happening now
  17. net — in sport
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. march — the month
  20. pound — a weight
  21. current — electric
  22. tear — to rip
  23. march — the month
  24. bowl — a football final

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