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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. land — to come down
  3. season — in sport
  4. degree — from a university
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. land — ground
  9. degree — temperature
  10. court — of a king
  11. court — of law
  12. season — of the year
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. kick — in football
  15. land — a country
  16. sharp — clever
  17. degree — an amount
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. mark — a trace
  20. bat — the animal
  21. mark — a grade
  22. court — for sport
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. sharp — exactly

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