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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. 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. arm — part of the body
  2. swing — to play on
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. degree — from a university
  5. swing — music
  6. court — for sport
  7. band — a ring
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. swing — in golf
  11. band — a music group
  12. court — of a king
  13. court — of law
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. degree — temperature
  18. 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