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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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468
Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wound · field · bass · capital · net · kid · club · content

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — an injury
  4. content — the amount
  5. field — for sport
  6. net — after costs
  7. net — for catching
  8. field — farmland
  9. club — for golf
  10. net — in sport
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. bass — low music
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. club — for dancing
  15. bass — the fish
  16. kid — child
  17. field — a subject
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. capital — a city
  21. club — a group
  22. content — happy
  23. capital — money
  24. kid — to tease

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