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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. face — to point toward
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. pit — a hole
  6. face — to confront
  7. bass — low music
  8. court — of a king
  9. court — for sport
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. court — of law
  12. pit — in a race
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. degree — temperature
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. kick — in football
  18. degree — from a university
  19. sharp — clever
  20. face — part of the head
  21. degree — an amount
  22. band — a ring
  23. bass — the fish
  24. band — a music group

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