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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. degree — temperature
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. court — of law
  8. court — for sport
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. field — a subject
  11. vault — a safe
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. field — farmland
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. field — for sport
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. cold — an illness
  19. court — of a king
  20. degree — from a university
  21. deal — to handle
  22. cold — not warm
  23. mine — for digging
  24. degree — an amount

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