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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: drill · degree · game · pitcher · branch · squash · capital · ground

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. game — a match
  3. degree — from a university
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. branch — a division
  6. ground — crushed
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. degree — temperature
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. squash — to crush
  11. degree — an amount
  12. squash — the sport
  13. ground — a position
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. ground — the earth
  17. drill — army training
  18. drill — the tool
  19. game — wild animals
  20. drill — a practice
  21. capital — money
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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