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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. row — a line
  3. track — a path
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. degree — from a university
  6. capital — a city
  7. scale — in music
  8. race — humankind
  9. race — the arms race
  10. track — a song
  11. row — to paddle
  12. drill — army training
  13. degree — an amount
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. track — to keep track
  16. bat — the animal
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. race — a contest
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. drill — the tool
  22. drill — a practice
  23. degree — temperature
  24. scale — size or range

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