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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. net — after costs
  3. pass — to spend time
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. net — in sport
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. pass — a permit
  8. perch — the fish
  9. spring — the season
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. capital — a city
  13. wound — an injury
  14. net — for catching
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. spring — a coil
  17. wound — an injury
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. capital — money
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. spring — of water
  24. cell — in biology

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