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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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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: cell · capital · swing · kid · tear · racket · game · net

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. kid — child
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. cell — in biology
  5. swing — in golf
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. game — wild animals
  8. net — after costs
  9. game — a match
  10. swing — to play on
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. swing — music
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. net — in sport
  15. cell — a phone
  16. capital — a city
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — from crying
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. kid — to tease
  23. net — for catching
  24. tear — to rip

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