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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 116 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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. degree — an amount
  4. capital — money
  5. kid — child
  6. swing — to play on
  7. root — of a word
  8. bear — the animal
  9. capital — a city
  10. degree — temperature
  11. degree — from a university
  12. root — the cause
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. root — of a plant
  15. swing — in golf
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. bat — the animal
  19. kid — to tease
  20. wake — a trail
  21. bear — the animal
  22. swing — music
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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