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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. degree — an amount
  5. land — a country
  6. land — ground
  7. bound — tied together
  8. pitch — completely
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. land — to come down
  13. degree — from a university
  14. capital — a city
  15. capital — money
  16. cell — a phone
  17. bound — certain
  18. bound — obliged
  19. degree — temperature
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. bark — to shout
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. cell — in biology
  24. coach — a trainer

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