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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. spring — of water
  4. bass — the fish
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. net — after costs
  7. net — for catching
  8. spring — a coil
  9. capital — money
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. staff — a stick
  12. spell — letters
  13. shower — to wash
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. spring — the season
  16. capital — a city
  17. staff — employees
  18. net — in sport
  19. spell — magic
  20. shower — rain
  21. spell — a short time
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. staff — employees
  24. bass — low 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