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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.

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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: chest · degree · spell · capital · bank · stem · squash · snap

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. squash — to crush
  3. stem — to come from
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. chest — of your body
  6. spell — a short time
  7. squash — the sport
  8. spell — magic
  9. chest — of your body
  10. degree — temperature
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. degree — from a university
  13. bank — for money
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. spell — letters
  17. bank — for money
  18. capital — money
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. degree — an amount
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. snap — to click
  23. chest — a box
  24. bank — of a river

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