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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: net · ground · patient · bat · straw · bear · capital · can

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. capital — a city
  3. can — a tin
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. ground — a position
  7. ground — the earth
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. net — after costs
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. ground — crushed
  12. can — a tin
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. bat — the animal
  15. capital — money
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. bear — the animal
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. can — to be able to
  21. net — for catching
  22. bear — the animal
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. patient — a sick person

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