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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: squash · club · court · wake · degree · mate · stem · ground

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. court — for sport
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. mate — a partner
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. wake — a trail
  7. club — for golf
  8. squash — to crush
  9. club — for dancing
  10. degree — from a university
  11. mate — to breed
  12. court — of law
  13. ground — a position
  14. court — of a king
  15. ground — the earth
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. mate — a friend
  19. squash — the sport
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. degree — an amount
  22. stem — to come from
  23. degree — temperature
  24. club — a group

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