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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 I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. 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. cue — a signal
  2. cue — a hint
  3. court — of a king
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. sharp — clever
  6. capital — a city
  7. chest — of your body
  8. present — the time now
  9. chest — a box
  10. cue — for pool
  11. chest — of your body
  12. present — there
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. court — for sport
  17. capital — money
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. degree — from a university
  21. court — of law
  22. present — a gift
  23. degree — temperature
  24. 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