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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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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: wind · capital · tear · cap · leaves · file · degree · pass

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. pass — a permit
  3. capital — money
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. file — a document
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. tear — from crying
  9. file — a tool
  10. cap — a lid
  11. degree — an amount
  12. wind — moving air
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. tear — from crying
  15. degree — from a university
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. cap — a hat
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. file — a line of people
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. tear — to rip
  22. cap — of ice
  23. degree — temperature
  24. capital — a city

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