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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. degree — an amount
  4. degree — temperature
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. ground — a position
  7. chest — of your body
  8. court — of a king
  9. prune — to trim
  10. chest — a box
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. ground — the earth
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. cue — for pool
  15. cue — a hint
  16. chest — of your body
  17. branch — a division
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. prune — to trim
  20. degree — from a university
  21. cue — a signal
  22. ground — crushed
  23. court — of law
  24. branch — of a bank

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