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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: wound · cue · capital · lie · clip · net · last · toast

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — in sport
  3. toast — a drink to someone
  4. clip — to cut
  5. net — for catching
  6. last — to go on
  7. wound — an injury
  8. cue — a signal
  9. cue — for pool
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. cue — a hint
  13. toast — bread
  14. last — final
  15. capital — money
  16. clip — a video
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. capital — a city
  19. wound — an injury
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. last — finally
  22. clip — for paper
  23. toast — the most admired
  24. lie — to recline

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