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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 116 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: degree · chip · kid · capital · wind · firm

  1. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. kid — child
  3. wind — moving air
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. firm — decided
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. chip — to eat
  8. kid — to tease
  9. capital — money
  10. chip — for betting
  11. degree — temperature
  12. degree — an amount
  13. capital — a city
  14. firm — a company
  15. wind — moving air
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. degree — from a university

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