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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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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 · degree · prune · season · track · jam · wound · pitcher

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. wound — an injury
  4. prune — to trim
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. degree — an amount
  7. jam — to spread on bread
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. wound — an injury
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. court — of a king
  12. season — in sport
  13. track — a path
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. season — of the year
  16. court — for sport
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. track — to keep track
  19. jam — a tight spot
  20. degree — temperature
  21. track — a song
  22. degree — from a university
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. prune — to trim

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