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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: degree · net · capital · mine · court · race · arm · spell

  1. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. net — for catching
  3. race — a contest
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. net — after costs
  8. mine — for digging
  9. capital — money
  10. degree — an amount
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. court — of law
  13. spell — magic
  14. race — humankind
  15. net — in sport
  16. capital — a city
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. spell — letters
  19. race — the arms race
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. court — for sport
  22. degree — temperature
  23. degree — from a university
  24. court — of a king

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