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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 seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. clip — to cut
  3. degree — temperature
  4. fine — high quality
  5. court — of law
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. clip — for paper
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. clip — a video
  10. degree — from a university
  11. bass — the fish
  12. wound — an injury
  13. fine — all right
  14. wound — an injury
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. bass — low music
  18. degree — an amount
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. court — of a king
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. coach — a trainer

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