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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: pop · ground · coach · wind · bass · prune · degree · court

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. wind — moving air
  4. court — of law
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bass — low music
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. degree — temperature
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. wind — moving air
  11. ground — the earth
  12. pop — to visit
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. ground — a position
  15. court — of a king
  16. court — for sport
  17. pop — music
  18. bass — the fish
  19. prune — to trim
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. pop — soda
  24. ground — crushed

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