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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: temple · rest · kick · court · degree · hide · pitch · cold

  1. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. cold — not warm
  3. rest — a break
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. degree — from a university
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. court — of law
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. degree — an amount
  13. cold — an illness
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. kick — in football
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. court — of a king
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. court — for sport
  20. pitch — completely
  21. rest — what's left
  22. degree — temperature
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. hide — animal skin

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