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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 water is too ________________.
  2. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. wind — moving air
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. net — after costs
  6. net — in sport
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. wind — moving air
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. foot — a measure
  11. cold — an illness
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. bass — the fish
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. bass — low music
  17. capital — money
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. pitch — completely
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. capital — a city
  23. net — for catching
  24. wind — to turn a key

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