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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: file · chair · pop · rule · degree · capital

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pop — soda
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. degree — temperature
  5. file — a line of people
  6. file — a tool
  7. capital — a city
  8. rule — government
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. degree — from a university
  11. pop — to visit
  12. capital — money
  13. rule — a law
  14. file — a document
  15. chair — a leader
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. pop — music

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