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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 120 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: degree · cabinet · land · capital · file · spring · race · fan

  1. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. race — humankind
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. land — a country
  5. spring — the season
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. capital — a city
  8. file — a tool
  9. capital — money
  10. land — ground
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. race — the arms race
  13. land — to come down
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. spring — a coil
  16. race — a contest
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. degree — from a university
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. spring — of water
  22. degree — temperature
  23. degree — an amount
  24. file — a line of people

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