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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. squash — the sport
  3. stick — to attach or keep to
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. net — after costs
  6. court — of law
  7. pit — in a race
  8. court — of a king
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. row — to paddle
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. net — for catching
  13. row — a line
  14. capital — a city
  15. squash — to crush
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. degree — temperature
  19. degree — an amount
  20. pit — a hole
  21. net — in sport
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. capital — money
  24. court — for sport

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