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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: wound · rush · fork · degree · bowl · capital · season · wind

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — moving air
  6. season — of the year
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. capital — money
  9. season — in sport
  10. degree — an amount
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. rush — hurry
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wound — an injury
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. fork — in a road
  20. degree — from a university
  21. capital — a city
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. degree — temperature
  24. rush — to hurry

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