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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: mine · march · degree · row · capital · board · mark · ball

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. degree — from a university
  3. capital — money
  4. board — a committee
  5. mark — a grade
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. degree — an amount
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. degree — temperature
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. board — to get on
  13. march — the month
  14. row — to paddle
  15. ball — a great time
  16. mine — for digging
  17. march — the month
  18. march — music
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. row — a line
  23. ball — a dance
  24. mark — a trace

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