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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. club — a group
  4. degree — temperature
  5. degree — from a university
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. capital — money
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. club — for golf
  11. swing — in golf
  12. swing — to play on
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. degree — an amount
  15. rash — hasty
  16. court — for sport
  17. court — of law
  18. swing — music
  19. court — of a king
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. capital — a city
  22. kick — in football
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. rash — a series

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