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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 120 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.

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: ball · current · wound · field · degree · cap · snap · capital

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. snap — to click
  3. wound — an injury
  4. degree — from a university
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. degree — an amount
  7. cap — of ice
  8. wound — an injury
  9. ball — a great time
  10. field — farmland
  11. degree — temperature
  12. current — of water
  13. current — electric
  14. cap — a hat
  15. cap — a lid
  16. capital — a city
  17. field — a subject
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. capital — money
  20. field — for sport
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. current — happening now
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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