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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: perch · capital · snap · degree · jam · spell · file · straw

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. degree — an amount
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. spell — letters
  7. jam — in traffic
  8. file — a tool
  9. snap — to click
  10. spell — a short time
  11. degree — temperature
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. file — a line of people
  14. file — a document
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. capital — a city
  17. capital — money
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. jam — to spread on bread
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. spell — magic
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. degree — from a university
  24. jam — a tight spot

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