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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. capital — money
  3. spring — a coil
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. stick — to attach or keep to
  6. tear — from crying
  7. net — for catching
  8. net — in sport
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. fine — high quality
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. tear — from crying
  13. row — to paddle
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. capital — a city
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. spring — of water
  18. fine — all right
  19. row — a line
  20. tear — to rip
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. spring — the season
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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