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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · clip · kick · prune · charge · mine · degree · racket

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The tickets are free of ________________.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. prune — to trim
  3. clip — for paper
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. court — for sport
  7. prune — to trim
  8. degree — an amount
  9. degree — from a university
  10. clip — a video
  11. charge — a price
  12. charge — electricity
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. degree — temperature
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. charge — in control
  18. court — of law
  19. clip — to cut
  20. court — of a king
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. kick — in football
  23. mine — for digging
  24. racket — a loud noise

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