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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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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: pitch · bound · court · deal · land · sharp · firm · degree

  1. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. bound — certain
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. bound — tied together
  5. firm — a company
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. degree — an amount
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. court — for sport
  10. land — to come down
  11. land — a country
  12. bound — obliged
  13. degree — from a university
  14. land — ground
  15. court — of law
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. firm — decided
  18. court — of a king
  19. degree — temperature
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. deal — to handle
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. sharp — clever
  24. pitch — completely

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