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

Word bank: rest · net · swing · snap · pop · chest · trunk · capital

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. net — after costs
  3. pop — to visit
  4. chest — a box
  5. snap — to click
  6. capital — money
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. swing — to play on
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. rest — what's left
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. net — in sport
  13. chest — of your body
  14. rest — a break
  15. swing — in golf
  16. pop — soda
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. swing — music
  20. chest — of your body
  21. rest — what's left
  22. net — for catching
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. pop — 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