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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: court · last · deal · chair · degree · craft

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. degree — temperature
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. court — of a king
  6. last — finally
  7. court — of law
  8. last — final
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. craft — boats
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. degree — from a university
  13. court — for sport
  14. last — to go on
  15. chair — a leader
  16. craft — a skill
  17. deal — to handle
  18. craft — a handicraft

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