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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 · saw · kid · press · firm · net · cap · bat

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. kid — to tease
  3. net — after costs
  4. net — in sport
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. saw — the tool
  7. net — for catching
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. kid — child
  10. press — a publisher
  11. firm — decided
  12. firm — steady
  13. cap — a hat
  14. cap — a lid
  15. capital — a city
  16. firm — a company
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. bat — the animal
  19. saw — the tool
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. press — newspapers
  22. cap — of ice
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. press — to push

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