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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. saw — the tool
  3. net — after costs
  4. mine — for digging
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. net — in sport
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. stock — shares
  11. capital — a city
  12. net — for catching
  13. march — the month
  14. saw — the tool
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. stock — goods
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. march — the month
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. capital — money
  23. wax — to grow
  24. march — music

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