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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: capital · net · row · stock · can · lie · cold · pitch

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. net — for catching
  5. lie — to recline
  6. cold — an illness
  7. row — a line
  8. net — in sport
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. stock — goods
  11. capital — a city
  12. can — a tin
  13. can — a tin
  14. stock — shares
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. can — to be able to
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. row — to paddle
  19. capital — money
  20. cold — not warm
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. pitch — completely

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