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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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. cap — a hat
  4. degree — an amount
  5. kid — child
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. season — of the year
  8. capital — a city
  9. face — to confront
  10. file — a document
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. degree — from a university
  13. file — a tool
  14. face — to point toward
  15. file — a line of people
  16. face — part of the head
  17. kid — to tease
  18. pound — a weight
  19. cap — a lid
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. cap — of ice
  23. degree — temperature
  24. season — 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