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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. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. stand — for spectators
  3. net — in sport
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. degree — temperature
  6. court — of law
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. net — after costs
  10. race — a contest
  11. rash — a series
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. degree — an amount
  14. court — of a king
  15. cell — in biology
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. net — for catching
  18. degree — from a university
  19. race — the arms race
  20. rash — hasty
  21. race — humankind
  22. cell — a phone
  23. stand — to bear
  24. cell — in a prison

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