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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · ball · wound · mate · degree · content · march · lie

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. mate — a partner
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — from a university
  7. court — of law
  8. march — the month
  9. ball — a great time
  10. court — for sport
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. lie — to recline
  14. mate — to breed
  15. march — the month
  16. wound — an injury
  17. court — of a king
  18. content — happy
  19. content — the amount
  20. march — music
  21. mate — a friend
  22. degree — an amount
  23. ball — a dance
  24. ball — a round shape

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