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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: current · mine · cold · mate · degree · capital · ground · fan

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. ground — the earth
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. mate — to breed
  6. current — of water
  7. ground — crushed
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. cold — an illness
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. capital — a city
  12. mine — for digging
  13. degree — from a university
  14. mate — a partner
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. degree — an amount
  17. mate — a friend
  18. cold — not warm
  19. ground — a position
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. current — happening now
  22. degree — temperature
  23. current — electric
  24. fan — a supporter

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