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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. degree — from a university
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. face — to confront
  6. face — part of the head
  7. degree — an amount
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. face — to point toward
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. capital — a city
  13. capital — money
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. dip — to sink
  16. degree — temperature
  17. band — a music group
  18. cell — in biology
  19. band — a ring
  20. court — for sport
  21. court — of a king
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. cell — a phone
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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