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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: lean · stick · swing · dip · court · kid · bat · degree

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. lean — to bend
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bat — the animal
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. swing — to play on
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. court — of a king
  10. degree — from a university
  11. kid — child
  12. degree — an amount
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. court — for sport
  15. degree — temperature
  16. swing — music
  17. swing — in golf
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. dip — to sink
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. court — of law
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. lean — thin
  24. lean — to rest against

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