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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. My mare is ________________ in color.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. degree — from a university
  4. cell — a phone
  5. mine — for digging
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. rash — a series
  8. court — of law
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. degree — temperature
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. rash — hasty
  17. cell — in biology
  18. game — wild animals
  19. bay — a horse colour
  20. degree — an amount
  21. court — of a king
  22. game — a match
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. court — for sport

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