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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: capital · land · board · pitch · degree · perch · wax · bass

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. bass — low music
  4. degree — from a university
  5. capital — money
  6. land — ground
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. perch — the fish
  9. land — to come down
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. degree — temperature
  14. pitch — completely
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. board — a committee
  17. bass — the fish
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. wax — to grow
  20. land — a country
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. degree — an amount
  23. board — to get on
  24. bass — the instrument

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