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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: degree · clip · bat · court · capital · staff · season · ground

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. degree — temperature
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. capital — money
  5. ground — a position
  6. clip — a video
  7. degree — from a university
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. court — of law
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. season — in sport
  12. season — of the year
  13. capital — a city
  14. court — of a king
  15. staff — employees
  16. clip — for paper
  17. staff — a stick
  18. staff — employees
  19. ground — the earth
  20. bat — the animal
  21. ground — crushed
  22. degree — an amount
  23. clip — to cut
  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