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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: rush · scale · sharp · court · capital · bass · race · degree

  1. That must've been a ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  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. rush — a thrill
  2. sharp — clever
  3. capital — money
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. scale — in music
  6. court — for sport
  7. scale — size or range
  8. race — a contest
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. degree — an amount
  11. court — of a king
  12. rush — hurry
  13. race — humankind
  14. bass — the fish
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. capital — a city
  19. degree — from a university
  20. bass — low music
  21. race — the arms race
  22. court — of law
  23. sharp — exactly
  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