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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 university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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 city
  3. degree — an amount
  4. cell — a phone
  5. court — of a king
  6. rest — what's left
  7. cap — of ice
  8. pop — to visit
  9. cell — in biology
  10. pop — soda
  11. pop — music
  12. court — of law
  13. rest — what's left
  14. ball — a dance
  15. rest — a break
  16. court — for sport
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. degree — temperature
  19. cap — a lid
  20. cap — a hat
  21. ball — a great time
  22. capital — money
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. cell — in a prison

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