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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. capital — money
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. cold — an illness
  8. net — in sport
  9. track — a path
  10. capital — a city
  11. fine — all right
  12. net — after costs
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. net — for catching
  16. fine — high quality
  17. spring — a coil
  18. dip — to sink
  19. spring — of water
  20. track — to keep track
  21. spring — the season
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. cold — not warm
  24. track — a song

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