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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The tickets are free of ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. rash — hasty
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. charge — in control
  5. charge — electricity
  6. net — after costs
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. content — happy
  10. degree — temperature
  11. net — for catching
  12. capital — money
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. degree — from a university
  15. rash — a series
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. capital — a city
  19. bat — the animal
  20. degree — an amount
  21. charge — a price
  22. content — the amount
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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