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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. spring — a coil
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. capital — money
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. pitch — completely
  7. field — a subject
  8. capital — a city
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. field — farmland
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. spring — of water
  13. degree — from a university
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. spring — the season
  16. field — for sport
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. degree — an amount
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. cap — a hat
  22. cap — of ice
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. cap — a lid

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