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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 120 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: squash · degree · perch · land · rule · court · ball · cell

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. degree — an amount
  3. court — of law
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. degree — temperature
  6. squash — the sport
  7. land — to come down
  8. ball — a dance
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. cell — a phone
  11. rule — government
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. degree — from a university
  15. perch — the fish
  16. rule — a law
  17. cell — in biology
  18. squash — to crush
  19. ball — a great time
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. land — a country
  23. court — for sport
  24. court — of a king

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