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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. jam — in traffic
  3. net — after costs
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. degree — temperature
  6. net — for catching
  7. court — of law
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. degree — from a university
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. march — the month
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bat — the animal
  14. degree — an amount
  15. march — music
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. rush — hurry
  20. wind — moving air
  21. court — for sport
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. march — the month
  24. net — in sport

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