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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 116 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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. spring — of water
  4. club — for golf
  5. court — of a king
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. spring — a coil
  8. march — music
  9. club — for dancing
  10. degree — temperature
  11. march — the month
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. prune — to trim
  14. degree — from a university
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. deal — to handle
  17. court — of law
  18. march — the month
  19. prune — to trim
  20. spring — the season
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. club — a group
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. court — for sport

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