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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
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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: bank · degree · court · cold · ball · shower · pitcher · vault

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. ball — a great time
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. degree — from a university
  5. bank — for money
  6. court — for sport
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. court — of law
  9. shower — rain
  10. ball — a dance
  11. cold — not warm
  12. degree — an amount
  13. bank — of a river
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. degree — temperature
  16. bank — for money
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. shower — to wash
  19. cold — an illness
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. vault — a safe
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. court — of a king

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