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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: rash · cold · squash · lean · net · capital · bark · clip

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. squash — to crush
  6. bark — to shout
  7. lean — thin
  8. net — for catching
  9. rash — a series
  10. capital — a city
  11. lean — to bend
  12. capital — money
  13. squash — the sport
  14. clip — to cut
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. rash — hasty
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. net — in sport
  19. cold — not warm
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — a video
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. cold — an illness

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