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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 124 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. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. bulb — for light
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. hand — help
  5. capital — a city
  6. capital — money
  7. lean — to bend
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. lean — thin
  10. row — a line
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. row — to paddle
  13. wake — a trail
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. degree — temperature
  17. hand — in cards
  18. march — the month
  19. march — music
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. march — the month
  22. degree — an amount
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. bulb — for light

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