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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. capital — a city
  3. cue — a signal
  4. band — a ring
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. rash — a series
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. scale — in music
  10. degree — temperature
  11. wax — to grow
  12. cue — a hint
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. scale — size or range
  16. degree — an amount
  17. cue — for pool
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. capital — money
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. rash — hasty
  22. band — a music group
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wound — an injury

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