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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bark · cap · shower · degree · capital · chair

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. capital — a city
  3. degree — an amount
  4. cap — a hat
  5. capital — money
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bark — to shout
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. degree — from a university
  13. chair — a leader
  14. shower — rain
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. cap — a lid
  18. cap — of ice

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