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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: capital · hide · bay · hand · degree · fork · mine · cold

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. fork — in a road
  3. degree — from a university
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. capital — a city
  6. degree — temperature
  7. hand — help
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. cold — not warm
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. degree — an amount
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. bay — to keep at bay
  16. capital — money
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. cold — an illness
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bay — a part of the sea
  24. mine — for digging

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