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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. chest — of your body
  3. degree — an amount
  4. ground — crushed
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. spell — letters
  7. degree — temperature
  8. chest — a box
  9. rock — a stone
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. rock — music
  14. capital — money
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. spell — a short time
  17. ground — a position
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. ground — the earth
  20. chest — of your body
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. spell — magic
  23. degree — from a university
  24. kick — in football

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