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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 116 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 · perch · pop · spell · bank · current · capital · cold

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. spell — letters
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. current — electric
  5. capital — a city
  6. pop — soda
  7. perch — the fish
  8. current — happening now
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. spell — a short time
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bank — for money
  13. pop — to visit
  14. spell — magic
  15. cold — an illness
  16. pop — music
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. net — for catching
  19. cold — not warm
  20. capital — money
  21. current — of water
  22. bank — for money
  23. bank — of a river
  24. net — in sport

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