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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: tear · jam · leaves · degree · wound · capital · pop · mate

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. wound — an injury
  3. pop — soda
  4. pop — to visit
  5. mate — a friend
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. jam — to spread on bread
  8. wound — an injury
  9. degree — from a university
  10. tear — from crying
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. degree — temperature
  13. mate — to breed
  14. degree — an amount
  15. capital — a city
  16. jam — in traffic
  17. capital — money
  18. pop — music
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. tear — to rip
  22. mate — a partner
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. leaves — to go away

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