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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. cell — in biology
  5. court — of law
  6. degree — temperature
  7. ground — the earth
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. wind — moving air
  10. degree — from a university
  11. ground — a position
  12. wind — moving air
  13. sharp — clever
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. degree — an amount
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. pitch — completely
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. court — of a king
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. cell — a phone
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. ground — crushed

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