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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: court · rule · degree · drill · pound · race · pitcher · row

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. race — the arms race
  4. row — a line
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. race — humankind
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. rule — government
  9. row — to paddle
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. drill — the tool
  12. court — of a king
  13. court — for sport
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. drill — army training
  17. degree — from a university
  18. pound — a weight
  19. court — of law
  20. rule — a law
  21. degree — temperature
  22. drill — a practice
  23. race — a contest
  24. degree — an amount

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