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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: capital · degree · bore · game · cold · saw · mug · nail

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. mug — to rob
  3. degree — an amount
  4. game — wild animals
  5. bore — to tire
  6. saw — the tool
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. mug — a face
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. capital — a city
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. mug — a cup
  13. cold — not warm
  14. degree — from a university
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. bore — to drill
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — an illness
  19. capital — money
  20. game — a match
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. degree — temperature
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. nail — on a finger

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