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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 · stock · ruler · capital · bat · staff · chair · last

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — for catching
  3. staff — a stick
  4. capital — a city
  5. bat — the animal
  6. last — final
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. staff — employees
  9. capital — money
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. stock — shares
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. net — in sport
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. stock — goods
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. last — finally
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. staff — employees
  23. chair — a leader
  24. last — to go on

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