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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 120 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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. stock — shares
  4. court — for sport
  5. row — a line
  6. degree — from a university
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. row — to paddle
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. degree — temperature
  11. prune — to trim
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. lean — thin
  15. degree — an amount
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. cold — not warm
  19. prune — to trim
  20. stock — goods
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. lean — to bend
  23. court — of a king
  24. cold — an illness

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