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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. degree — an amount
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. craft — a skill
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. object — a thing
  7. object — to protest
  8. object — an aim
  9. pitch — completely
  10. track — a song
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. capital — money
  13. cold — not warm
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. degree — from a university
  17. cold — an illness
  18. hand — in cards
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. degree — temperature
  21. hand — help
  22. craft — boats
  23. track — to keep track
  24. track — a path

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