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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 116 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: capital · swing · kick · chair · cold · chip · net · dip

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. dip — to sink
  3. chip — for betting
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. capital — a city
  7. net — after costs
  8. kick — in football
  9. swing — music
  10. net — for catching
  11. chair — a leader
  12. chip — to eat
  13. cold — not warm
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. swing — to play on
  18. capital — money
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. net — in sport
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. swing — in golf

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