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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: degree · rash · court · file · spell · content · mine · squash

  1. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. court — of a king
  3. spell — letters
  4. content — the amount
  5. spell — a short time
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. file — a document
  8. degree — an amount
  9. spell — magic
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. rash — hasty
  12. file — a tool
  13. degree — from a university
  14. degree — temperature
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. court — for sport
  18. squash — the sport
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. mine — for digging
  21. court — of law
  22. squash — to crush
  23. content — happy
  24. file — a line of people

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