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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. track — to keep track
  3. track — a path
  4. degree — from a university
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. net — after costs
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. capital — money
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. track — a song
  12. spring — the season
  13. spring — of water
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. net — for catching
  16. degree — temperature
  17. capital — a city
  18. spring — a coil
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. degree — an amount
  22. scale — size or range
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. scale — in music

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