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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 120 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. face — to confront
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. temple — side of the head
  5. swing — in golf
  6. foot — a measure
  7. degree — temperature
  8. root — the cause
  9. swing — to play on
  10. file — a line of people
  11. root — of a plant
  12. court — of a king
  13. degree — from a university
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a tool
  17. court — of law
  18. court — for sport
  19. face — part of the head
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. face — to point toward
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. root — of a word
  24. swing — music

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