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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.

Make a worksheet

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: game · rest · fork · content · court · plane · degree · chest

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. rest — a break
  3. content — happy
  4. court — of law
  5. fork — in a road
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. plane — a tool
  8. court — of a king
  9. degree — temperature
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. rest — what's left
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. content — the amount
  14. game — wild animals
  15. degree — from a university
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. court — for sport
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — a box
  20. degree — an amount
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. rest — what's left
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. game — a match

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