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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. court — of a king
  4. march — music
  5. degree — an amount
  6. bat — the animal
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. court — for sport
  9. band — a music group
  10. march — the month
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. court — of law
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — moving air
  16. march — the month
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. degree — temperature
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. row — to paddle
  21. row — a line
  22. degree — from a university
  23. stem — to come from
  24. stem — a stem cell

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