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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 120 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: tear · sharp · court · stand · degree · clip · bowl · perch

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. stand — to bear
  4. clip — for paper
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. tear — from crying
  7. court — for sport
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. degree — an amount
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. sharp — clever
  13. tear — to rip
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. degree — temperature
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. perch — the fish
  18. clip — a video
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. tear — from crying
  21. clip — to cut
  22. court — of a king
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. degree — from a university

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