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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: field · degree · spell · capital · hand · bank · bark · rest

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. rest — what's left
  3. bark — to shout
  4. hand — in cards
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. bank — for money
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. spell — a short time
  9. bank — for money
  10. rest — a break
  11. field — farmland
  12. capital — a city
  13. capital — money
  14. degree — temperature
  15. field — a subject
  16. spell — magic
  17. rest — what's left
  18. degree — from a university
  19. field — for sport
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — help
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. bank — of a river
  24. spell — letters

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