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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 116 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: charge · degree · bank · court · land · trunk · cold · track

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The tickets are free of ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. degree — from a university
  3. land — to come down
  4. degree — an amount
  5. bank — for money
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. charge — a price
  8. land — a country
  9. court — of a king
  10. degree — temperature
  11. track — to keep track
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. charge — electricity
  14. track — a song
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. charge — in control
  17. bank — of a river
  18. cold — an illness
  19. land — ground
  20. track — a path
  21. cold — not warm
  22. court — of law
  23. bank — for money
  24. trunk — of a tree

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