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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. lean — thin
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. lean — to bend
  7. cold — an illness
  8. capital — a city
  9. capital — money
  10. rash — hasty
  11. net — for catching
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. net — in sport
  14. rash — a series
  15. squash — to crush
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. squash — the sport
  18. cold — not warm

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