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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: mark · squash · field · straw · shower · capital · mine · degree

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. mark — a trace
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. shower — to wash
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. mark — a grade
  9. degree — an amount
  10. shower — rain
  11. degree — temperature
  12. field — farmland
  13. capital — money
  14. field — for sport
  15. field — a subject
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. degree — from a university
  20. mine — for digging
  21. squash — the sport
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. squash — to crush
  24. mark — to pay attention

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