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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. lean — thin
  3. capital — a city
  4. degree — an amount
  5. capital — money
  6. tear — from crying
  7. band — a music group
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. lean — to bend
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. degree — temperature
  14. tear — from crying
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. game — a match
  17. tear — to rip
  18. game — wild animals
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. band — a ring
  21. foot — a measure
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. degree — from a university
  24. capital — a big letter

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