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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: march · shower · last · pop · capital · present · degree · lie

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. degree — from a university
  3. last — finally
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. present — there
  6. present — the time now
  7. pop — soda
  8. last — to go on
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. present — a gift
  11. shower — to wash
  12. capital — money
  13. degree — temperature
  14. pop — music
  15. shower — rain
  16. capital — a city
  17. march — the month
  18. last — final
  19. lie — to recline
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. march — the month
  22. degree — an amount
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. march — music

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