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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. net — in sport
  3. kid — child
  4. capital — a city
  5. rush — hurry
  6. capital — money
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. stock — goods
  9. net — after costs
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. stock — shares
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. kid — to tease
  15. pit — in a race
  16. pit — a hole
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. chip — to eat
  19. wound — an injury
  20. net — for catching
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. chip — for betting
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. capital — a big letter

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