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

Word bank: court · cell · degree · wind · wave · kick

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. wind — moving air
  4. court — of a king
  5. cell — a phone
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. kick — in football
  8. cell — in biology
  9. wind — moving air
  10. court — of law
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. degree — temperature
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. court — for sport
  18. degree — an amount

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