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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: charge · wound · degree · court · cold · kick · present · row

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. The tickets are free of ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. present — there
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. degree — from a university
  5. row — a line
  6. cold — not warm
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. present — a gift
  9. charge — electricity
  10. charge — a price
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. degree — temperature
  13. present — the time now
  14. degree — an amount
  15. wound — an injury
  16. court — for sport
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. wound — an injury
  19. court — of law
  20. court — of a king
  21. charge — in control
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. kick — in football
  24. row — to paddle

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