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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. pop — to visit
  3. degree — an amount
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. board — to get on
  8. march — the month
  9. scale — size or range
  10. march — music
  11. degree — from a university
  12. pop — soda
  13. board — a committee
  14. capital — money
  15. fork — in a road
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. degree — temperature
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. march — the month
  21. scale — in music
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. pop — music
  24. capital — a big letter

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