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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. court — of law
  3. wound — an injury
  4. bass — the fish
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. march — music
  7. kid — child
  8. court — of a king
  9. degree — temperature
  10. wound — an injury
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. degree — an amount
  14. bass — low music
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. degree — from a university
  18. bark — to shout
  19. march — the month
  20. kid — to tease
  21. court — for sport
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. march — the month

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