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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: capital · fall · net · degree · perch · cold · plane · ball

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. net — for catching
  3. degree — temperature
  4. plane — a tool
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. net — after costs
  7. degree — an amount
  8. ball — a great time
  9. ball — a dance
  10. cold — an illness
  11. fall — the season
  12. perch — the fish
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. fall — to drop
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. net — in sport
  17. capital — a city
  18. capital — money
  19. degree — from a university
  20. fall — to drop
  21. cold — not warm
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. ball — a round shape

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