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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 116 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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. swing — in golf
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. mate — a partner
  6. swing — music
  7. degree — an amount
  8. wound — an injury
  9. court — for sport
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. mate — to breed
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. mate — a friend
  16. court — of a king
  17. wound — an injury
  18. court — of law
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. swing — to play on
  21. degree — temperature
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. perch — the fish

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