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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: club · capital · mate · coach · rule · chest · fall · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. capital — a city
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. club — for dancing
  5. chest — a box
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. mate — a partner
  8. club — a group
  9. rule — a law
  10. degree — from a university
  11. club — for golf
  12. degree — temperature
  13. mate — a friend
  14. fall — to drop
  15. capital — money
  16. mate — to breed
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. fall — the season
  19. chest — of your body
  20. rule — government
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. fall — to drop
  23. chest — of your body
  24. capital — a big letter

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