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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. court — of a king
  3. degree — from a university
  4. net — in sport
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. firm — a company
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. mine — for digging
  10. court — of law
  11. content — happy
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. net — after costs
  16. firm — steady
  17. net — for catching
  18. degree — temperature
  19. firm — decided
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. degree — an amount
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. content — the amount

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