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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: pit · bat · wake · degree · face · dip · court · band

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. court — of law
  5. pit — a hole
  6. degree — an amount
  7. court — for sport
  8. bat — the animal
  9. court — of a king
  10. face — to confront
  11. face — to point toward
  12. dip — to sink
  13. band — a music group
  14. band — a ring
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. face — part of the head
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. wake — a trail
  21. pit — in a race
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. degree — from a university
  24. degree — temperature

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