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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: degree · court · rest · clip · chest · club

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. degree — an amount
  3. court — of law
  4. degree — temperature
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — for paper
  7. club — for dancing
  8. rest — what's left
  9. club — a group
  10. chest — of your body
  11. degree — from a university
  12. court — for sport
  13. rest — what's left
  14. club — for golf
  15. chest — of your body
  16. court — of a king
  17. rest — a break
  18. clip — a video

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