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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: degree · mark · face · bat · capital · kid · rush · band

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. face — to point toward
  3. degree — from a university
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. band — a music group
  7. face — to confront
  8. mark — a grade
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. kid — child
  13. band — a ring
  14. degree — temperature
  15. degree — an amount
  16. mark — a trace
  17. face — part of the head
  18. rush — hurry
  19. capital — money
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. capital — a city
  23. kid — to tease
  24. bat — the animal

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