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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: tube · cold · capital · squash · cell · degree

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cell — a phone
  4. cell — in biology
  5. capital — a city
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. squash — the sport
  8. capital — money
  9. tube — a container
  10. degree — temperature
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. degree — from a university
  13. degree — an amount
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. tube — the underground
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. squash — to crush
  18. cold — not warm

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