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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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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. degree — an amount
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. degree — from a university
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. bulb — for light
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. bulb — for light
  10. prune — to trim
  11. capital — a city
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. prune — to trim
  14. capital — money
  15. degree — temperature
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. hand — in cards
  18. bowl — to roll

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