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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: craft · board · capital · degree · tube · tear · cold · wave

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. tear — to rip
  3. capital — money
  4. degree — temperature
  5. craft — boats
  6. degree — an amount
  7. cold — not warm
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. board — to get on
  10. wave — of the sea
  11. craft — a skill
  12. tube — a container
  13. capital — a city
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. board — a committee
  16. tear — from crying
  17. cold — an illness
  18. degree — from a university
  19. wave — with your hand
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. tear — from crying
  24. board — a flat piece

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