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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. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. degree — an amount
  3. court — of law
  4. tear — from crying
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. ball — a dance
  8. tear — to rip
  9. tear — from crying
  10. cell — a phone
  11. court — of a king
  12. vault — an arched ceiling
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. cell — in biology
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. degree — from a university
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. ball — a great time
  19. court — for sport
  20. vault — a safe
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. roll — a cake
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. degree — temperature

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