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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: fork · bowl · degree · capital · snap · spell · cabinet · chest

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. What do you think of the new ________________?
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — money
  3. spell — letters
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. chest — a box
  6. degree — temperature
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. degree — from a university
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. chest — of your body
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. chest — of your body
  14. fork — in a road
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. spell — a short time
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. degree — an amount
  21. snap — to click
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. spell — magic

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