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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. capital — money
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. fall — to drop
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — an amount
  7. degree — from a university
  8. hand — help
  9. root — of a word
  10. hand — in cards
  11. fall — to drop
  12. fall — the season
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. ground — a position
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. root — the cause
  17. rock — a stone
  18. snap — to click
  19. ground — the earth
  20. root — of a plant
  21. ground — crushed
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. capital — a city

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