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

Word bank: cue · kid · chair · trunk · degree · capital

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. cue — a hint
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. degree — from a university
  7. cue — for pool
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. capital — a city
  10. degree — temperature
  11. degree — an amount
  12. capital — money
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. cue — a signal
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. kid — child
  18. kid — to tease

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