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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. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. court — for sport
  3. court — of law
  4. game — a match
  5. rock — music
  6. tube — the underground
  7. can — to be able to
  8. spring — the season
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. court — of a king
  11. degree — from a university
  12. game — wild animals
  13. shower — rain
  14. rock — a stone
  15. degree — an amount
  16. spring — a coil
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. tube — a container
  19. can — a tin
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. spring — of water
  22. shower — to wash
  23. rock — to move gently
  24. degree — temperature

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