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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. court — for sport
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. club — for dancing
  6. scale — in music
  7. degree — temperature
  8. degree — an amount
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. club — for golf
  13. degree — from a university
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. sharp — clever
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. chest — a box
  18. chest — of your body
  19. club — a group
  20. bat — the animal
  21. scale — size or range
  22. court — of law
  23. chest — of your body
  24. court — of a king

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