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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. cue — a hint
  3. court — of a king
  4. degree — temperature
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. game — wild animals
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. game — a match
  12. wind — moving air
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. court — of law
  15. cue — a signal
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. wax — to grow
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. degree — an amount
  22. court — for sport
  23. cue — for pool
  24. degree — from a university

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