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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. court — of law
  3. saw — the tool
  4. saw — the tool
  5. band — a ring
  6. swing — to play on
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. court — of a king
  9. ball — a dance
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. degree — temperature
  12. degree — from a university
  13. clip — to cut
  14. ball — a great time
  15. band — a music group
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. court — for sport
  19. clip — for paper
  20. swing — music
  21. swing — in golf
  22. stem — to come from
  23. clip — a video
  24. stem — of a plant

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