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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. court — of a king
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. bear — the animal
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. degree — an amount
  8. sharp — clever
  9. kid — to tease
  10. kid — child
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. capital — a city
  13. bark — to shout
  14. capital — money
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. court — of law
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. degree — temperature
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. court — for sport
  23. bear — the animal
  24. degree — from a university

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