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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — an amount
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. capital — a city
  7. root — the cause
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. root — of a word
  10. degree — temperature
  11. present — there
  12. hand — in cards
  13. track — to keep track
  14. present — the time now
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. mine — for digging
  17. root — of a plant
  18. capital — money
  19. prune — to trim
  20. track — a path
  21. present — a gift
  22. hand — help
  23. track — a song
  24. prune — to trim

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