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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: bat · plane · degree · fall · squash · ground · court · rule

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. squash — the sport
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. court — for sport
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. court — of a king
  8. bat — the animal
  9. fall — the season
  10. degree — from a university
  11. court — of law
  12. ground — crushed
  13. ground — the earth
  14. plane — a tool
  15. degree — temperature
  16. fall — to drop
  17. rule — a law
  18. ground — a position
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. rule — government
  22. fall — to drop
  23. degree — an amount
  24. squash — to crush

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