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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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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: rash · tube · degree · capital · shower · cap · net · deal

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. shower — to wash
  3. degree — from a university
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. degree — an amount
  6. rash — a series
  7. rash — hasty
  8. net — in sport
  9. capital — money
  10. net — after costs
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. tube — a container
  14. degree — temperature
  15. net — for catching
  16. cap — of ice
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. capital — a city
  19. cap — a hat
  20. tube — the underground
  21. shower — rain
  22. deal — to handle
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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