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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 116 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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. object — to protest
  3. press — a publisher
  4. net — after costs
  5. pitch — completely
  6. net — in sport
  7. degree — from a university
  8. fine — high quality
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. press — to push
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. object — an aim
  14. capital — a city
  15. degree — temperature
  16. press — newspapers
  17. capital — money
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. object — a thing
  21. cold — not warm
  22. fine — all right
  23. degree — an amount
  24. cold — an illness

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