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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: degree · date · capital · snap · chest · pound · nail · bear

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. chest — a box
  7. degree — from a university
  8. bear — the animal
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. chest — of your body
  11. pound — a weight
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. snap — to click
  15. bear — the animal
  16. capital — money
  17. chest — of your body
  18. date — the fruit
  19. degree — temperature
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. degree — an amount

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