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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. degree — an amount
  4. degree — from a university
  5. rush — hurry
  6. ball — a great time
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. court — for sport
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. ball — a dance
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. shower — to wash
  16. court — of law
  17. degree — temperature
  18. shower — rain
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. mine — for digging
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. court — of a king
  24. foot — a measure

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