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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: wound · race · court · spell · degree · foot · scale · shower

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. court — of law
  6. shower — rain
  7. race — the arms race
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. spell — a short time
  10. court — of a king
  11. spell — magic
  12. court — for sport
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. race — humankind
  15. wound — an injury
  16. scale — in music
  17. scale — size or range
  18. degree — an amount
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. foot — a measure
  21. race — a contest
  22. degree — from a university
  23. shower — to wash
  24. degree — temperature

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