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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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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: season · degree · court · ruler · press · kid · trunk · clip

  1. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ruler — for measuring
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. kid — child
  4. season — of the year
  5. degree — from a university
  6. clip — for paper
  7. season — in sport
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. clip — a video
  10. press — to push
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. press — a publisher
  13. court — of law
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. press — newspapers
  16. clip — to cut
  17. kid — to tease
  18. court — of a king
  19. ruler — a monarch
  20. degree — temperature
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. degree — an amount
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. court — for sport

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