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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 116 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: kick · perch · pop · wind · court · bore · capital · degree

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. court — of law
  3. court — for sport
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. degree — temperature
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. capital — a city
  8. wind — moving air
  9. bore — to tire
  10. capital — money
  11. pop — music
  12. bore — to drill
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. degree — from a university
  16. court — of a king
  17. pop — to visit
  18. degree — an amount
  19. pop — soda
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. kick — in football
  23. wind — moving air
  24. perch — the fish

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