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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. stock — shares
  3. staff — employees
  4. net — in sport
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. net — for catching
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. bat — the animal
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. prune — to trim
  11. capital — money
  12. shower — rain
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. pop — to visit
  15. capital — a city
  16. staff — a stick
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. stock — goods
  19. net — after costs
  20. pop — music
  21. staff — employees
  22. shower — to wash
  23. prune — to trim
  24. pop — soda

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