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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. wind — moving air
  3. capital — money
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. staff — a stick
  6. degree — an amount
  7. row — to paddle
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. wind — moving air
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. field — a subject
  12. staff — employees
  13. field — for sport
  14. squash — the sport
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. staff — employees
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. degree — from a university
  19. degree — temperature
  20. capital — a city
  21. row — a line
  22. field — farmland
  23. ball — a great time
  24. squash — to crush

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