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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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Word bank
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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. court — for sport
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. degree — an amount
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. court — of a king
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. degree — from a university
  11. spring — a coil
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. spring — of water
  14. degree — temperature
  15. season — in sport
  16. spring — the season
  17. hand — in cards
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. court — of law
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. kick — in football
  23. sharp — clever
  24. season — of the year

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