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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. track — a path
  3. lean — thin
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. capital — money
  6. wind — moving air
  7. capital — a city
  8. track — a song
  9. net — after costs
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. lean — to bend
  13. chest — of your body
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. track — to keep track
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. chest — a box
  19. wind — moving air
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. net — in sport
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. net — for catching
  24. chest — of your body

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