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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 120 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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. squash — the sport
  3. net — in sport
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. hand — in cards
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. net — for catching
  8. net — after costs
  9. mate — a friend
  10. capital — money
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. squash — to crush
  14. hand — help
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. capital — a city
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. shower — to wash
  20. land — ground
  21. shower — rain
  22. land — a country
  23. land — to come down
  24. mate — to breed

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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