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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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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: vault · degree · prune · field · capital · snap · rash · kick

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. field — a subject
  4. prune — to trim
  5. capital — a city
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. degree — temperature
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. rash — a series
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. rash — hasty
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. snap — to click
  15. kick — in football
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. degree — from a university
  18. capital — money
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. vault — a safe
  21. field — for sport
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. prune — to trim
  24. field — farmland

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