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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: bowl · fork · club · degree · capital · clip

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. degree — an amount
  3. degree — temperature
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. capital — money
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. capital — a city
  12. clip — to cut
  13. club — for golf
  14. degree — from a university
  15. clip — for paper
  16. fork — in a road
  17. clip — a video
  18. club — for dancing

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