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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: race · hand · can · wound · firm · court · degree · bat

  1. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. wound — an injury
  3. race — the arms race
  4. firm — steady
  5. race — a contest
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bat — the animal
  8. hand — in cards
  9. wound — an injury
  10. degree — an amount
  11. court — of law
  12. court — of a king
  13. degree — temperature
  14. race — humankind
  15. can — a tin
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. hand — help
  18. can — a tin
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. firm — a company
  22. court — for sport
  23. firm — decided
  24. degree — from a university

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