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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. prune — to trim
  3. degree — from a university
  4. ball — a dance
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. prune — to trim
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. saw — the tool
  9. court — for sport
  10. content — happy
  11. degree — temperature
  12. chest — of your body
  13. court — of a king
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. chest — a box
  16. court — of law
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. ball — a great time
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. chest — of your body
  21. saw — the tool
  22. content — the amount
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. content — videos and posts

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