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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 116 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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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: hand · race · rule · bowl · degree · capital · club · deal

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. degree — an amount
  3. rule — a law
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. degree — from a university
  6. capital — a city
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. deal — to handle
  10. rule — government
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. club — for golf
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. race — the arms race
  15. hand — in cards
  16. hand — help
  17. degree — temperature
  18. race — a contest
  19. club — for dancing
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. race — humankind
  22. capital — money
  23. club — a group
  24. deal — a big deal

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