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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 120 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: land · capital · season · vault · squash · bowl · race · degree

  1. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — an arched ceiling
  2. season — of the year
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. land — ground
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. race — a contest
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. degree — from a university
  11. race — humankind
  12. season — in sport
  13. degree — an amount
  14. capital — money
  15. vault — a safe
  16. squash — to crush
  17. land — a country
  18. capital — a city
  19. squash — the sport
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. land — to come down
  22. race — the arms race
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. degree — temperature

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