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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: snap · capital · bat · court · tube · hide · fall · degree

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bat — the animal
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. court — for sport
  6. fall — to drop
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. capital — money
  9. degree — from a university
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. tube — a container
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. court — of law
  15. tube — the underground
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. court — of a king
  18. capital — a city
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. fall — to drop
  22. fall — the season
  23. degree — temperature
  24. hide — to keep secret

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