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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: degree · content · trunk · capital · scale · track · tear · spring

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. spring — a coil
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. track — a path
  7. spring — the season
  8. degree — from a university
  9. tear — from crying
  10. scale — in music
  11. track — to keep track
  12. degree — an amount
  13. track — a song
  14. tear — to rip
  15. spring — of water
  16. content — the amount
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. capital — money
  19. degree — temperature
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. scale — size or range
  23. tear — from crying
  24. content — happy

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