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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. degree — temperature
  3. club — a group
  4. roll — a cake
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. court — of law
  8. degree — from a university
  9. roll — a list
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. court — for sport
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. club — for golf
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. court — of a king
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. sharp — clever
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. degree — an amount
  24. fork — in a road

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