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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: court · cabinet · roll · capital · stem · spring · wake · degree

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  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. wake — before a funeral
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. stem — to come from
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. spring — the season
  6. spring — a coil
  7. degree — an amount
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. court — for sport
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. degree — temperature
  15. capital — a city
  16. roll — a cake
  17. court — of a king
  18. degree — from a university
  19. spring — of water
  20. wake — a trail
  21. court — of law
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. roll — a list
  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