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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. degree — from a university
  3. perch — the fish
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. degree — an amount
  6. court — of a king
  7. cell — a phone
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. jam — in traffic
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — of your body
  13. mark — a trace
  14. jam — to spread on bread
  15. cell — in biology
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. chest — a box
  19. court — for sport
  20. court — of law
  21. mark — a grade
  22. bat — the animal
  23. degree — temperature
  24. perch — for a bird

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