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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — temperature
  3. prune — to trim
  4. court — of law
  5. row — a line
  6. key — in music
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. hand — in cards
  9. prune — to trim
  10. swing — in golf
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. row — to paddle
  13. swing — music
  14. court — for sport
  15. key — for a lock
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. key — the most important part
  18. root — of a word
  19. degree — from a university
  20. court — of a king
  21. swing — to play on
  22. hand — help
  23. root — of a plant
  24. root — the cause

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