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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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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: mug · degree · capital · file · chest · bore · track · pound

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. capital — a city
  3. mug — a cup
  4. degree — from a university
  5. chest — of your body
  6. track — a path
  7. mug — a face
  8. chest — a box
  9. track — to keep track
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. mug — to rob
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. file — a document
  14. bore — to drill
  15. chest — of your body
  16. track — a song
  17. file — a tool
  18. degree — temperature
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. bore — to tire
  21. file — a line of people
  22. pound — a weight
  23. capital — money
  24. pound — to hit hard

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