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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 116 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. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. capital — a city
  4. degree — temperature
  5. rest — a break
  6. degree — an amount
  7. net — after costs
  8. land — ground
  9. capital — money
  10. march — the month
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. bat — the animal
  13. rest — what's left
  14. net — in sport
  15. degree — from a university
  16. land — a country
  17. land — to come down
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. march — the month
  20. net — for catching
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. squash — the sport
  23. march — music
  24. squash — to crush

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