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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: mouse · last · bat · march · net · fine · straw · capital

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. last — final
  3. net — after costs
  4. capital — a city
  5. march — the month
  6. bat — the animal
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. net — in sport
  10. capital — money
  11. fine — all right
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. march — music
  17. last — to go on
  18. march — the month
  19. last — finally
  20. fine — high quality
  21. mouse — for a computer
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. net — for catching
  24. fine — a penalty

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