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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: swing · capital · rash · board · roll · land · pitcher · net

  1. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. rash — a series
  3. net — after costs
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. roll — a cake
  7. roll — a list
  8. swing — to play on
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. land — to come down
  12. capital — money
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. net — for catching
  15. swing — in golf
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. capital — a city
  18. rash — hasty
  19. land — a country
  20. net — in sport
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. board — a committee
  23. swing — music
  24. land — ground

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