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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. degree — temperature
  3. stem — to come from
  4. deal — to handle
  5. bound — certain
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. squash — the sport
  8. object — to protest
  9. object — an aim
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. bound — obliged
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. object — a thing
  15. degree — an amount
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. bound — tied together
  18. degree — from a university
  19. squash — to crush
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. capital — money
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. capital — a city

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