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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 120 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 · ground · tear · race · tube · leaves · saw · capital

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. degree — from a university
  3. degree — an amount
  4. tear — from crying
  5. race — humankind
  6. tube — a container
  7. degree — temperature
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. race — a contest
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — to rip
  12. ground — a position
  13. ground — the earth
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. capital — a city
  17. capital — money
  18. tube — the underground
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. race — the arms race
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. ground — crushed
  23. saw — the tool
  24. saw — the tool

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