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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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. spell — magic
  3. charge — a price
  4. cap — a hat
  5. cold — an illness
  6. degree — temperature
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. bound — tied together
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cap — a lid
  11. cap — of ice
  12. charge — electricity
  13. capital — a city
  14. ground — the earth
  15. ground — crushed
  16. degree — an amount
  17. capital — money
  18. ground — a position
  19. charge — in control
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bound — certain
  22. spell — a short time
  23. degree — from a university
  24. spell — letters

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