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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. wound — an injury
  5. degree — an amount
  6. dip — to sink
  7. object — a thing
  8. degree — temperature
  9. court — of law
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. capital — money
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. object — to protest
  16. object — an aim
  17. wound — an injury
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. court — of a king
  22. capital — a city
  23. degree — from a university
  24. wave — of the sea

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