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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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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: fall · content · capital · degree · shower · wax · object · safe

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. fall — to drop
  3. capital — money
  4. content — the amount
  5. safe — out of danger
  6. fall — the season
  7. degree — temperature
  8. degree — an amount
  9. safe — out of danger
  10. degree — from a university
  11. shower — rain
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. shower — to wash
  14. object — a thing
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. object — to protest
  19. fall — to drop
  20. safe — a strongbox
  21. content — happy
  22. object — an aim
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. wax — to grow

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