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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: court · tear · trunk · fine · wind · degree · content · lean

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. tear — from crying
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. degree — temperature
  7. lean — thin
  8. tear — to rip
  9. degree — an amount
  10. fine — high quality
  11. degree — from a university
  12. fine — all right
  13. content — happy
  14. lean — to bend
  15. court — for sport
  16. court — of a king
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — moving air
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. content — the amount
  21. tear — from crying
  22. court — of law
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. trunk — of a tree

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