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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 120 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: wound · wind · capital · snap · season · degree · pitcher · present

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. capital — money
  5. wound — an injury
  6. present — the time now
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. season — in sport
  9. present — there
  10. snap — to click
  11. degree — an amount
  12. wind — moving air
  13. present — a gift
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wind — moving air
  17. degree — from a university
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. degree — temperature
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. wound — an injury
  23. capital — a city
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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