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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. court — for sport
  4. court — of law
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. clip — for paper
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. scale — size or range
  9. snap — to click
  10. clip — to cut
  11. bank — for money
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. craft — a skill
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. bank — of a river
  16. court — of a king
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. craft — boats
  19. clip — a video
  20. scale — in music
  21. degree — temperature
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. degree — an amount
  24. bank — for money

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