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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. net — for catching
  3. roll — a list
  4. degree — temperature
  5. chest — of your body
  6. net — after costs
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. capital — a city
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. capital — money
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. roll — a cake
  16. net — in sport
  17. chest — a box
  18. chest — of your body
  19. degree — from a university
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. bat — the animal
  22. degree — an amount
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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