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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. stem — to come from
  4. pop — music
  5. capital — money
  6. degree — temperature
  7. pop — soda
  8. club — for golf
  9. club — for dancing
  10. capital — a city
  11. pop — to visit
  12. degree — an amount
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. degree — from a university
  18. snap — to click

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