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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 120 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. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. bulb — for light
  4. degree — from a university
  5. cell — a phone
  6. court — for sport
  7. game — wild animals
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. game — a match
  10. cell — in biology
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. degree — an amount
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. court — of law
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bulb — for light
  21. court — of a king
  22. degree — temperature
  23. perch — the fish
  24. arm — part of the body

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