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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
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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: mug · net · degree · press · capital · snap · clip · file

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. mug — to rob
  5. net — in sport
  6. mug — a cup
  7. mug — a face
  8. degree — temperature
  9. snap — to click
  10. clip — for paper
  11. press — newspapers
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — a video
  14. degree — an amount
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. capital — money
  17. degree — from a university
  18. press — to push
  19. net — for catching
  20. file — a tool
  21. capital — a city
  22. file — a line of people
  23. press — a publisher
  24. file — a document

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