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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: bass · snap · band · net · mine · capital · scale · drill

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. net — in sport
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. band — a ring
  5. capital — money
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. mine — for digging
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. band — a music group
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. drill — the tool
  13. drill — a practice
  14. scale — in music
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. bass — low music
  17. net — for catching
  18. bass — the fish
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. net — after costs
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. scale — size or range
  23. drill — army training
  24. snap — to click

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