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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. hand — in cards
  4. court — of a king
  5. degree — from a university
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. mine — for digging
  10. court — for sport
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. hand — help
  13. net — for catching
  14. net — after costs
  15. net — in sport
  16. degree — temperature
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bark — to shout
  20. pass — a permit
  21. court — of law
  22. degree — an amount
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. hand — part of the body

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