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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. spring — the season
  3. capital — a city
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. net — after costs
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. net — for catching
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. spring — of water
  11. bass — low music
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — to wash
  15. spring — a coil
  16. bass — the fish
  17. capital — money
  18. net — in sport

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