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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 120 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: rule · coach · perch · degree · court · cell · fall · stock

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. rule — a law
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. fall — the season
  5. court — of law
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. degree — temperature
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. court — of a king
  11. fall — to drop
  12. court — for sport
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. fall — to drop
  15. rule — government
  16. perch — the fish
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. cell — in biology
  19. stock — goods
  20. degree — from a university
  21. stock — shares
  22. degree — an amount
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. rule — to rule out

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