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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 116 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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — an amount
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. spell — a short time
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. court — of a king
  8. deal — to handle
  9. mine — for digging
  10. prune — to trim
  11. spell — letters
  12. court — for sport
  13. degree — temperature
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. net — for catching
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. spell — magic
  19. net — in sport
  20. prune — to trim
  21. net — after costs
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. court — of law
  24. deal — an agreement

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