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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. race — a contest
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. degree — temperature
  5. race — humankind
  6. degree — an amount
  7. court — of law
  8. march — the month
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. march — the month
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — an injury
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. march — music
  15. hand — help
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. court — for sport
  18. degree — from a university
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. race — the arms race
  21. hand — in cards
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. hand — part of the body

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