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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. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. capital — money
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — to cut
  6. capital — a city
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. bass — the fish
  12. net — for catching
  13. wind — moving air
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. lie — to recline
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. bass — low music
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. date — the fruit
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. mine — for digging
  22. net — after costs
  23. wind — moving air
  24. clip — a video

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