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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bat — the animal
  4. game — a match
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. charge — a price
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. court — of a king
  9. rash — hasty
  10. court — for sport
  11. degree — temperature
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. degree — an amount
  15. charge — in control
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. mine — for digging
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. game — wild animals
  20. degree — from a university
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. court — of law
  24. rash — a series

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