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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 116 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 · squash · march · degree · cabinet · wound · rule · mine

  1. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. rule — a law
  3. mine — for digging
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. march — the month
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. degree — temperature
  8. wound — an injury
  9. march — music
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. squash — the sport
  13. degree — from a university
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. squash — to crush
  16. rule — government
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. wound — an injury
  19. court — of law
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. court — for sport
  22. degree — an amount
  23. court — of a king
  24. march — the month

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