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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: kick · rest · mark · degree · hand · capital · band · shower

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. mark — a grade
  3. capital — money
  4. hand — help
  5. capital — a city
  6. band — a music group
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. hand — in cards
  9. mark — a trace
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. rest — a break
  13. degree — from a university
  14. shower — to wash
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. degree — temperature
  17. rest — what's left
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. band — a ring
  20. degree — an amount
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. kick — in football
  24. rest — what's left

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