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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. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. degree — from a university
  3. bound — certain
  4. rock — a stone
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mine — for digging
  7. court — for sport
  8. degree — temperature
  9. spring — the season
  10. rock — music
  11. court — of a king
  12. bound — obliged
  13. bound — tied together
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. spring — a coil
  16. bat — the animal
  17. court — of law
  18. degree — an amount
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. charge — in control
  21. charge — electricity
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. spring — of water
  24. bat — for baseball

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