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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: court · degree · drill · present · season · spring · ball · tube

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. spring — of water
  3. court — for sport
  4. court — of a king
  5. degree — an amount
  6. tube — a container
  7. present — a gift
  8. ball — a great time
  9. drill — army training
  10. season — in sport
  11. court — of law
  12. degree — temperature
  13. drill — a practice
  14. present — the time now
  15. season — of the year
  16. present — there
  17. spring — a coil
  18. spring — the season
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. tube — the underground
  21. drill — the tool
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. ball — a dance

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