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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. net — in sport
  4. land — ground
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. land — a country
  8. date — the fruit
  9. net — after costs
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. deal — to handle
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. bore — to tire
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. bore — to drill
  16. capital — a city
  17. land — to come down
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. net — for catching
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. wake — a trail

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