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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.

Words on the sheet
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: chest · shower · pitcher · wound · capital · net · deal · chip

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chip — to eat
  5. capital — money
  6. chip — for betting
  7. wound — an injury
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. capital — a city
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. shower — to wash
  13. net — in sport
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. net — for catching
  16. chest — of your body
  17. shower — rain
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. deal — to handle
  20. chest — a box
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. net — after costs
  24. chip — in a computer

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