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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. degree — temperature
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. capital — money
  5. fork — in a road
  6. current — electric
  7. current — of water
  8. bass — low music
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. mine — for digging
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. game — a match
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. ball — a great time
  16. ball — a dance
  17. current — happening now
  18. game — wild animals
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. degree — from a university
  23. bass — the fish
  24. degree — an amount

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