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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 · arm · wind · tear · mark · wound · spell

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. tear — to rip
  3. degree — from a university
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. wound — an injury
  6. court — for sport
  7. degree — temperature
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. tear — from crying
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. tear — from crying
  12. wind — moving air
  13. spell — a short time
  14. wound — an injury
  15. mark — a grade
  16. spell — magic
  17. wind — moving air
  18. spell — letters
  19. court — of law
  20. degree — an amount
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. mark — a trace

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