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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. saw — the tool
  3. court — for sport
  4. bass — low music
  5. court — of law
  6. degree — from a university
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. mine — for digging
  11. court — of a king
  12. bass — the fish
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. degree — temperature
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. saw — the tool
  17. degree — an amount
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. wake — a trail
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. sharp — with an edge

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