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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: degree · bass · pound · capital · chest · wind

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. degree — from a university
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. chest — a box
  5. capital — money
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. bass — the fish
  8. pound — a weight
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. capital — a city
  11. chest — of your body
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. degree — temperature
  14. degree — an amount
  15. chest — of your body
  16. wind — moving air
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. wind — moving air

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