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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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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: court · cold · present · capital · degree · bound · ball · bank

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  24. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. court — for sport
  3. bank — of a river
  4. court — of a king
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. capital — a city
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. bound — tied together
  9. present — the time now
  10. bound — certain
  11. cold — an illness
  12. present — there
  13. degree — temperature
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — money
  16. bound — obliged
  17. cold — not warm
  18. present — a gift
  19. degree — an amount
  20. ball — a great time
  21. ball — a dance
  22. court — of law
  23. bank — for money
  24. bank — for money

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