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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 116 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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. game — wild animals
  3. stock — shares
  4. degree — temperature
  5. swing — in golf
  6. cap — of ice
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. swing — to play on
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. cap — a lid
  11. vault — a safe
  12. wind — moving air
  13. stock — goods
  14. swing — music
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. degree — from a university
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. degree — an amount
  19. wind — moving air
  20. game — a match
  21. capital — a city
  22. cap — a hat
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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