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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: degree · chest · ground · kick · cell · season · cabinet · court

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. court — of law
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. cell — in biology
  6. cell — a phone
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. chest — of your body
  10. degree — an amount
  11. season — of the year
  12. ground — crushed
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. degree — from a university
  15. chest — of your body
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. ground — the earth
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. court — of a king
  20. kick — in football
  21. chest — a box
  22. degree — temperature
  23. ground — a position
  24. season — in sport

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