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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. capital — money
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cue — a signal
  5. last — finally
  6. cue — for pool
  7. degree — from a university
  8. capital — a city
  9. cue — a hint
  10. last — to go on
  11. scale — in music
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. swing — to play on
  14. scale — size or range
  15. net — after costs
  16. net — for catching
  17. chest — a box
  18. chest — of your body
  19. degree — temperature
  20. degree — an amount
  21. last — final
  22. net — in sport
  23. swing — in golf
  24. swing — music

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