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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: pit · club · capital · degree · row · lean

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. lean — to bend
  3. degree — temperature
  4. pit — in a race
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. degree — from a university
  7. club — for dancing
  8. row — a line
  9. club — for golf
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. pit — a hole
  12. capital — money
  13. club — a group
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. lean — thin
  16. capital — a city
  17. degree — an amount
  18. row — to paddle

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