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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 asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. cold — an illness
  3. board — a committee
  4. spell — a short time
  5. board — to get on
  6. court — of a king
  7. degree — from a university
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. degree — an amount
  11. cold — not warm
  12. kick — in football
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. object — to protest
  15. degree — temperature
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. content — the amount
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. spell — letters
  20. object — an aim
  21. court — for sport
  22. object — a thing
  23. court — of law
  24. content — happy

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