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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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. march — the month
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. track — a song
  6. wound — an injury
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. cell — in biology
  9. march — the month
  10. march — music
  11. net — after costs
  12. wound — an injury
  13. degree — an amount
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. track — a path
  16. net — for catching
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. track — to keep track
  19. net — in sport
  20. cell — a phone
  21. degree — temperature
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. capital — money

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