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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Where did you ________________ them?
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. club — for golf
  3. court — of law
  4. file — a document
  5. hand — in cards
  6. mug — to rob
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. court — of a king
  9. squash — the sport
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. squash — to crush
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. degree — temperature
  15. court — for sport
  16. mug — a face
  17. mug — a cup
  18. degree — from a university
  19. file — a tool
  20. hand — help
  21. club — a group
  22. club — for dancing
  23. branch — a division
  24. file — a line of people

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