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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. cell — a phone
  3. land — to come down
  4. degree — temperature
  5. wax — to grow
  6. court — for sport
  7. court — of law
  8. land — ground
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. kick — in football
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. degree — from a university
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. court — of a king
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. cell — in biology
  19. degree — an amount
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. land — a country
  24. wax — for sculpting

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