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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. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. net — after costs
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. cold — not warm
  7. ball — a great time
  8. net — in sport
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. net — for catching
  12. land — a country
  13. land — ground
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. cold — an illness
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. ball — a dance
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. mark — a grade
  20. land — to come down
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. capital — a city
  23. capital — money
  24. fan — to cool the air

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