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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 · fork · degree · game · deal · capital · date · wind

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. game — wild animals
  3. degree — an amount
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. deal — to handle
  6. fork — in a road
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. wind — moving air
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. game — a match
  12. degree — from a university
  13. rash — a series
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. capital — a city
  17. date — the fruit
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. rash — hasty
  21. degree — temperature
  22. capital — money
  23. wind — moving air
  24. fork — to eat with

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