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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: bowl · kid · court · calf · cell · row · squash · degree

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. degree — an amount
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cell — a phone
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. degree — from a university
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. row — a line
  12. degree — temperature
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. squash — to crush
  16. kid — child
  17. court — for sport
  18. kid — to tease
  19. row — to paddle
  20. court — of law
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. court — of a king
  24. squash — the 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