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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: game · degree · stem · capital · ground · chest · file · mine

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  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. chest — a box
  2. ground — a position
  3. file — a tool
  4. degree — from a university
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. degree — temperature
  7. capital — money
  8. chest — of your body
  9. degree — an amount
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. game — wild animals
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. chest — of your body
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. capital — a city
  17. game — a match
  18. mine — for digging
  19. stem — to come from
  20. file — a document
  21. ground — crushed
  22. ground — the earth
  23. file — a line of people
  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