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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. press — to push
  5. deal — to handle
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. wound — an injury
  10. rock — a stone
  11. degree — temperature
  12. court — of law
  13. rock — music
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. wind — moving air
  16. degree — an amount
  17. court — of a king
  18. press — a publisher
  19. bark — to shout
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wind — moving air
  22. press — newspapers
  23. court — for sport
  24. bark — of a tree

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