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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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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 · capital · board · wind · tear · pit · squash · wax

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. degree — from a university
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. board — a committee
  6. degree — temperature
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. capital — a city
  9. wax — to grow
  10. pit — a hole
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wind — moving air
  14. degree — an amount
  15. capital — money
  16. tear — to rip
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. tear — from crying
  20. squash — the sport
  21. pit — in a race
  22. squash — to crush
  23. tear — from crying
  24. board — to get on

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