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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: staff · net · capital · chest · race · degree · pass · nail

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. race — the arms race
  3. staff — employees
  4. race — humankind
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. staff — employees
  7. degree — an amount
  8. capital — money
  9. race — a contest
  10. staff — a stick
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — a box
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. chest — of your body
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. capital — a city
  17. pass — a permit
  18. pass — to succeed
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. net — in sport
  21. net — for catching
  22. degree — temperature
  23. degree — from a university
  24. pass — to spend time

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