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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 120 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: game · degree · drill · chip · snap · club · perch · capital

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. game — wild animals
  3. capital — money
  4. perch — the fish
  5. game — a match
  6. snap — to click
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. drill — army training
  9. chip — for betting
  10. degree — an amount
  11. capital — a city
  12. chip — to eat
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. club — for golf
  15. club — for dancing
  16. drill — a practice
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. drill — the tool
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. degree — temperature
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. club — a group

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