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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. net — after costs
  3. scale — in music
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. court — for sport
  7. capital — a city
  8. land — ground
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. court — of a king
  11. land — to come down
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. court — of law
  14. scale — size or range
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. stand — to bear
  18. net — in sport
  19. capital — money
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. net — for catching
  22. dip — to sink
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. dip — a sauce

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