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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 116 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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. degree — from a university
  3. court — for sport
  4. clip — a video
  5. squash — the sport
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. degree — temperature
  8. clip — for paper
  9. shower — to wash
  10. clip — to cut
  11. court — of a king
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. plane — a tool
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. face — to confront
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. face — to point toward
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. shower — rain
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. degree — an amount
  22. squash — to crush
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. face — part of the head

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