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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: court · degree · fan · foot · row · tube · bat · wound

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. court — of law
  4. degree — temperature
  5. court — for sport
  6. foot — a measure
  7. tube — the underground
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — the animal
  10. degree — from a university
  11. wound — an injury
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. wound — an injury
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. court — of a king
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. tube — a container
  20. row — to paddle
  21. row — a line
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. fan — to cool the air

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