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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: pound · capital · row · net · date · bear · chip · cold

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. cold — not warm
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. pound — a weight
  5. bear — the animal
  6. capital — money
  7. row — a line
  8. bear — the animal
  9. chip — for betting
  10. cold — an illness
  11. net — in sport
  12. date — the fruit
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. row — to paddle
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. capital — a city
  22. net — after costs
  23. chip — to eat
  24. bear — to put up with

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