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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 120 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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. degree — an amount
  4. degree — from a university
  5. spring — the season
  6. net — after costs
  7. fall — the season
  8. degree — temperature
  9. capital — a city
  10. fall — to drop
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. swing — in golf
  13. fine — all right
  14. net — for catching
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. spring — a coil
  18. rush — hurry
  19. fine — high quality
  20. fall — to drop
  21. spring — of water
  22. swing — music
  23. swing — to play on
  24. net — in sport

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