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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 120 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: charge · straw · capital · bat · net · can · file · chest

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — the animal
  3. file — a document
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. file — a tool
  7. chest — a box
  8. can — to be able to
  9. capital — money
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. charge — in control
  12. file — a line of people
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. chest — of your body
  15. charge — a price
  16. can — a tin
  17. capital — a city
  18. can — a tin
  19. net — in sport
  20. charge — electricity
  21. net — for catching
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. net — after costs

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