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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: capital · degree · pit · kid · stick · current

  1. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. kid — to tease
  4. capital — a city
  5. current — electric
  6. capital — money
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. degree — an amount
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. kid — child
  11. pit — a hole
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. degree — from a university
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. degree — temperature
  16. pit — in a race
  17. current — of water
  18. current — happening now

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