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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. swing — in golf
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. swing — to play on
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. jam — a tight spot
  8. capital — money
  9. net — in sport
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. mine — for digging
  14. wax — to grow
  15. content — happy
  16. capital — a city
  17. swing — music
  18. content — the amount
  19. net — for catching
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. net — after costs
  23. stem — to come from
  24. content — videos and posts

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