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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.

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: hand · degree · cold · mouse · chair · rest · capital · season

  1. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. degree — an amount
  3. season — of the year
  4. degree — temperature
  5. hand — help
  6. degree — from a university
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. cold — not warm
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. rest — what's left
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. season — in sport
  14. capital — money
  15. capital — a city
  16. hand — in cards
  17. rest — what's left
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. rest — a break
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. chair — a leader
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. cold — an illness

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