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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. When will it ________________ you to start?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. court — of a king
  3. degree — from a university
  4. drill — army training
  5. court — for sport
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. suit — in cards
  8. game — a match
  9. pit — in a race
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. drill — the tool
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. field — farmland
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. court — of law
  17. field — for sport
  18. drill — a practice
  19. degree — temperature
  20. suit — clothes
  21. field — a subject
  22. pit — a hole
  23. game — wild animals
  24. suit — to fit

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