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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. capital — a city
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. cap — a lid
  6. net — in sport
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. capital — money
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. tear — from crying
  12. prune — to trim
  13. cap — of ice
  14. tear — to rip
  15. cap — a hat
  16. tear — from crying
  17. bat — the animal
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. plane — a tool
  23. net — for catching
  24. prune — to trim

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