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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: bass · wind · kid · capital · net · temple · wake · game

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. wind — moving air
  3. net — in sport
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. game — wild animals
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — a city
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. kid — child
  13. net — for catching
  14. capital — money
  15. bass — the fish
  16. game — a match
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. net — after costs
  21. wake — a trail
  22. bass — low music
  23. kid — to tease
  24. wind — moving air

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