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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: scale · capital · craft · bound · spell · degree · cold · rest

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. scale — size or range
  4. spell — letters
  5. bound — certain
  6. spell — magic
  7. craft — a skill
  8. degree — from a university
  9. rest — a break
  10. rest — what's left
  11. degree — temperature
  12. capital — money
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. rest — what's left
  15. bound — tied together
  16. bound — obliged
  17. cold — an illness
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. degree — an amount
  20. craft — boats
  21. cold — not warm
  22. scale — in music
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. spell — a short time

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