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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: race · last · capital · degree · game · cabinet · cold · lie

  1. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. degree — from a university
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. capital — a city
  5. lie — to recline
  6. cold — an illness
  7. race — a contest
  8. degree — an amount
  9. race — humankind
  10. last — to go on
  11. last — finally
  12. game — wild animals
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. game — a match
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. degree — temperature
  18. race — the arms race
  19. last — final
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. capital — money
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — not warm

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