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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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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: capital · racket · bulb · fork · tear · wound · degree · swing

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. degree — from a university
  3. wound — an injury
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. degree — an amount
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. tear — from crying
  8. swing — music
  9. fork — in a road
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. wound — an injury
  12. swing — in golf
  13. tear — from crying
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. tear — to rip
  16. bulb — for light
  17. swing — to play on
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. bulb — for light
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. degree — temperature
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. capital — money

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