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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: degree · capital · bound · game · last · shower · mouse · dip

  1. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. capital — money
  3. degree — an amount
  4. bound — obliged
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bound — tied together
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. game — wild animals
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. last — final
  13. degree — from a university
  14. game — a match
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. capital — a city
  18. dip — to sink
  19. bound — certain
  20. shower — rain
  21. last — finally
  22. last — to go on
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. degree — temperature

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