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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: net · straw · kid · race · capital · file · mine · cue

  1. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. race — humankind
  3. net — after costs
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. cue — a hint
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. race — a contest
  8. net — in sport
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. cue — for pool
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. race — the arms race
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. capital — a city
  16. file — a tool
  17. net — for catching
  18. file — a document
  19. kid — to tease
  20. capital — money
  21. mine — for digging
  22. kid — child
  23. cue — a signal
  24. capital — a big letter

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