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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 116 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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. land — a country
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. bass — low music
  5. bass — the fish
  6. plane — a tool
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. content — the amount
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. degree — temperature
  13. content — happy
  14. lean — to bend
  15. land — ground
  16. degree — an amount
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. court — of law
  19. court — of a king
  20. lean — thin
  21. degree — from a university
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. land — to come down

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