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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: straw · swing · capital · cap · degree · present

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. present — there
  3. cap — a lid
  4. cap — of ice
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. present — a gift
  8. capital — money
  9. swing — music
  10. degree — an amount
  11. present — the time now
  12. cap — a hat
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. swing — in golf
  15. capital — a city
  16. degree — temperature
  17. swing — to play on
  18. straw — a straw man

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