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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: ball · pitcher · court · drill · club · degree · branch · track

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. court — for sport
  4. track — a path
  5. ball — a great time
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. club — for golf
  8. drill — army training
  9. club — a group
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. club — for dancing
  12. track — a song
  13. degree — an amount
  14. drill — a practice
  15. degree — temperature
  16. ball — a dance
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. branch — a division
  19. court — of a king
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. court — of law
  22. drill — the tool
  23. track — to keep track
  24. branch — of a bank

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