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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. squash — to crush
  4. degree — an amount
  5. sharp — clever
  6. content — happy
  7. tear — from crying
  8. degree — from a university
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. degree — temperature
  13. shower — to wash
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. shower — rain
  16. content — the amount
  17. tear — to rip
  18. squash — the sport
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. court — of law
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. court — of a king
  24. tear — from crying

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