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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. degree — from a university
  3. rock — music
  4. cell — a phone
  5. content — the amount
  6. bat — the animal
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. court — for sport
  9. court — of a king
  10. ground — a position
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. cell — in biology
  14. can — a tin
  15. content — happy
  16. degree — temperature
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. can — a tin
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. degree — an amount
  21. ground — the earth
  22. can — to be able to
  23. court — of law
  24. rock — a stone

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