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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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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. tube — a container
  3. wound — an injury
  4. ball — a great time
  5. wound — an injury
  6. degree — temperature
  7. hand — in cards
  8. court — of law
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. court — of a king
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. pitch — completely
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. ball — a dance
  15. wake — a trail
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. hand — help
  18. degree — from a university
  19. tube — the underground
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. court — for sport
  24. hand — 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