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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. rush — hurry
  3. squash — the sport
  4. cap — of ice
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. net — for catching
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. capital — a city
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. net — in sport
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. capital — money
  17. bark — to shout
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. pitch — completely
  20. cap — a hat
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. wake — a trail
  23. squash — to crush
  24. cap — a lid

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