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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. degree — from a university
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. degree — an amount
  5. vault — a safe
  6. lean — to bend
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. court — of a king
  9. lean — thin
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chip — for betting
  12. court — of law
  13. root — of a word
  14. chest — of your body
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. root — of a plant
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. degree — temperature
  19. chest — a box
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. chip — to eat
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. branch — a division
  24. root — the cause

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