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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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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: degree · capital · file · cold · root · drill · cap · wind

  1. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. root — the cause
  2. wind — moving air
  3. capital — a city
  4. file — a tool
  5. drill — the tool
  6. cold — not warm
  7. file — a line of people
  8. wind — moving air
  9. drill — a practice
  10. cap — a lid
  11. capital — money
  12. drill — army training
  13. cap — of ice
  14. degree — temperature
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. root — of a word
  19. degree — from a university
  20. file — a document
  21. root — of a plant
  22. cap — a hat
  23. cold — an illness
  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