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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: tear · spring · bowl · capital · root · degree

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. capital — money
  3. degree — from a university
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. root — the cause
  6. capital — a city
  7. spring — the season
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — to rip
  10. spring — of water
  11. degree — an amount
  12. tear — from crying
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. degree — temperature
  15. root — of a plant
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. root — of a word

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