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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · degree · band · last · bulb · season · cell · capital

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. last — final
  3. degree — an amount
  4. bulb — for light
  5. degree — temperature
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. court — of a king
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. season — of the year
  11. court — of law
  12. bulb — for light
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. band — a ring
  15. cell — a phone
  16. last — to go on
  17. court — for sport
  18. season — in sport
  19. last — finally
  20. band — a music group
  21. degree — from a university
  22. capital — money
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. band — a rubber band

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