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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 116 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: season · cell · race · degree · capital · pop · wax · rush

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. degree — from a university
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. race — the arms race
  5. pop — music
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — an amount
  8. season — of the year
  9. race — a contest
  10. rush — hurry
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. cell — a phone
  13. wax — to grow
  14. pop — to visit
  15. capital — a city
  16. capital — money
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. season — in sport
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. race — humankind
  23. pop — soda
  24. cell — in biology

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