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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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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 · ruler · wake · cold · degree · capital

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. ruler — for measuring
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. degree — from a university
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. chair — a leader
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. capital — money
  13. cold — not warm
  14. capital — a city
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. degree — an amount
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. wake — a trail

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