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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. swing — in golf
  3. snap — to click
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. degree — an amount
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. stock — goods
  10. pit — a hole
  11. squash — to crush
  12. pit — in a race
  13. band — a music group
  14. band — a ring
  15. swing — to play on
  16. swing — music
  17. court — for sport
  18. squash — the sport
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. degree — from a university
  22. court — of law
  23. degree — temperature
  24. stock — shares

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