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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: wind · degree · rest · capital · fork · trunk

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. capital — money
  4. fork — in a road
  5. degree — temperature
  6. rest — what's left
  7. wind — moving air
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. capital — a city
  13. degree — an amount
  14. wind — moving air
  15. rest — what's left
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. degree — from a university
  18. fork — to eat with

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