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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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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 · degree · content · march · charge · capital · bass · spring

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The tickets are free of ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. capital — money
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. content — the amount
  5. charge — a price
  6. content — happy
  7. march — music
  8. spring — of water
  9. bass — low music
  10. capital — a city
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. spring — the season
  13. ball — a dance
  14. ball — a great time
  15. spring — a coil
  16. degree — temperature
  17. charge — in control
  18. charge — electricity
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. bass — the fish
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. march — the month
  23. march — the month
  24. degree — an amount

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