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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: tear · dip · chest · land · bat · cap · capital · net

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  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. bat — the animal
  3. cap — a lid
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. chest — of your body
  6. net — in sport
  7. cap — a hat
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. land — ground
  10. capital — a city
  11. land — to come down
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. cap — of ice
  14. capital — money
  15. tear — to rip
  16. chest — of your body
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. net — after costs
  19. dip — to sink
  20. tear — from crying
  21. land — a country
  22. chest — a box
  23. tear — from crying
  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