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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: pitcher · row · degree · mine · bass · file · capital · bound

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. capital — a city
  3. row — a line
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. bound — obliged
  6. row — to paddle
  7. bass — the fish
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. degree — from a university
  10. file — a tool
  11. bound — tied together
  12. file — a line of people
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. file — a document
  16. degree — temperature
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. bass — low music
  19. degree — an amount
  20. mine — for digging
  21. bound — certain
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. capital — money

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