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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: lean · chest · sharp · degree · land · capital · game · arm

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. chest — a box
  5. sharp — clever
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. chest — of your body
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. game — wild animals
  10. degree — temperature
  11. degree — an amount
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. degree — from a university
  14. capital — a city
  15. lean — to bend
  16. lean — thin
  17. chest — of your body
  18. capital — money
  19. land — ground
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. land — to come down
  23. land — a country
  24. sharp — exactly

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