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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. capital — a city
  4. chair — a leader
  5. race — a contest
  6. cap — a lid
  7. degree — an amount
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. degree — from a university
  11. cap — of ice
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. race — humankind
  14. bark — to shout
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. race — the arms race
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. cap — a hat
  22. degree — temperature
  23. shower — rain
  24. shower — to wash

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