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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. degree — from a university
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. court — of law
  6. kid — child
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. degree — an amount
  9. kid — to tease
  10. court — for sport
  11. cold — an illness
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. chair — a leader
  14. spring — the season
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. cue — a hint
  18. cue — for pool
  19. spring — of water
  20. cue — a signal
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. degree — temperature
  24. spring — a coil

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