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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: row · net · bark · bass · bat · capital · face · date

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. row — a line
  3. bass — low music
  4. net — after costs
  5. face — to confront
  6. net — in sport
  7. face — to point toward
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. capital — a city
  12. date — the fruit
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. bark — to shout
  15. capital — money
  16. face — part of the head
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. row — to paddle
  23. bat — the animal
  24. net — for catching

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