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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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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: land · capital · foot · degree · mouse · staff · cold · bear

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. staff — a stick
  4. bear — the animal
  5. degree — an amount
  6. land — to come down
  7. degree — from a university
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. staff — employees
  12. foot — a measure
  13. capital — money
  14. land — ground
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. cold — not warm
  17. degree — temperature
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. cold — an illness
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. land — a country
  22. bear — the animal
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. capital — a city

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