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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  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. court — for sport
  2. spring — a coil
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. content — the amount
  5. degree — an amount
  6. jam — a tight spot
  7. bound — tied together
  8. bound — certain
  9. degree — from a university
  10. jam — to spread on bread
  11. march — music
  12. spring — of water
  13. march — the month
  14. spring — the season
  15. jam — in traffic
  16. bound — obliged
  17. pitch — completely
  18. content — happy
  19. march — the month
  20. degree — temperature
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. court — of law
  23. court — of a king
  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