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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: bat · wave · capital · hide · club · degree

  1. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. club — for golf
  3. bat — the animal
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. capital — a city
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. degree — temperature
  11. degree — an amount
  12. club — a group
  13. capital — money
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. degree — from a university
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. wave — of the sea

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