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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 120 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: drill · mug · wind · capital · bat · net · mate · march

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. Where did you ________________ them?
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. mug — a face
  3. net — after costs
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. capital — money
  6. mate — a partner
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. wind — moving air
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. net — for catching
  11. drill — army training
  12. march — music
  13. march — the month
  14. drill — the tool
  15. bat — the animal
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. wind — moving air
  18. mug — a cup
  19. mug — to rob
  20. march — the month
  21. mate — a friend
  22. drill — a practice
  23. net — in sport
  24. capital — a city

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