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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: fall · perch · degree · lie · wound · row · capital · net

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. degree — temperature
  4. net — in sport
  5. net — for catching
  6. capital — money
  7. perch — the fish
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. degree — an amount
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. wound — an injury
  12. fall — to drop
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. row — a line
  15. fall — to drop
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. lie — to recline
  18. row — to paddle
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. wound — an injury
  21. capital — a city
  22. fall — the season
  23. degree — from a university
  24. capital — a big letter

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