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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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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: date · chair · straw · net · racket · chest · capital · saw

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. chair — a leader
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. saw — the tool
  5. chest — a box
  6. capital — money
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. chest — of your body
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. net — in sport
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. capital — a city
  16. date — the fruit
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. chest — of your body
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. net — for catching
  24. net — after costs

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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