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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: chair · cell · capital · roll · degree · band

  1. We're on a ________________ here.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — on a roll
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. cell — a phone
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — temperature
  8. cell — in biology
  9. band — a ring
  10. roll — a list
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. degree — an amount
  13. band — a music group
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. capital — money
  16. chair — a leader
  17. roll — a cake
  18. capital — a city

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