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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: cell · coach · bass · capital · march · net · wind · pitch

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. bass — the fish
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. net — after costs
  5. capital — money
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. march — the month
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. capital — a city
  11. net — in sport
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. cell — in biology
  15. cell — a phone
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. march — music
  18. net — for catching
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. wind — moving air
  21. march — the month
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. pitch — completely
  24. wind — moving air

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