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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 university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. capital — a city
  7. kick — in football
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. rash — a series
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. degree — an amount
  12. spell — magic
  13. mate — a partner
  14. mate — to breed
  15. spell — a short time
  16. capital — money
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. bat — the animal
  19. spell — letters
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. mate — a friend
  22. rash — hasty
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. degree — temperature

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