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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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468
Word bank
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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. capital — a city
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. foot — the bottom
  8. file — a document
  9. file — a line of people
  10. kick — in football
  11. fork — in a road
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. rash — a series
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. rash — hasty
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. degree — temperature
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. foot — a measure
  23. file — a tool
  24. capital — money

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