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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 120 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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  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. last — finally
  2. court — for sport
  3. degree — from a university
  4. ground — crushed
  5. bound — obliged
  6. bound — certain
  7. degree — an amount
  8. ground — a position
  9. track — a song
  10. last — to go on
  11. tube — the underground
  12. court — of law
  13. degree — temperature
  14. bound — tied together
  15. ground — the earth
  16. last — final
  17. prune — to trim
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. track — to keep track
  20. track — a path
  21. tube — a container
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. prune — to trim
  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