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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: drill · capital · net · foot · land · prune · rush · degree

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. drill — a practice
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. degree — from a university
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. foot — a measure
  7. net — after costs
  8. rush — hurry
  9. net — for catching
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. drill — the tool
  13. land — to come down
  14. degree — temperature
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. capital — money
  17. prune — to trim
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. net — in sport
  20. degree — an amount
  21. land — a country
  22. drill — army training
  23. capital — a city
  24. prune — to trim

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