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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. degree — an amount
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. pop — music
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. cold — an illness
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. degree — temperature
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. capital — a city
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. pop — soda
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. cold — not warm
  18. capital — money
  19. degree — from a university
  20. pop — to visit
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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