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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — in sport
  3. capital — a city
  4. net — for catching
  5. rock — music
  6. fork — in a road
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. rock — a stone
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. club — for golf
  11. clip — a video
  12. club — a group
  13. clip — to cut
  14. capital — money
  15. clip — for paper
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. ball — a great time
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. ball — a dance
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. club — for dancing

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