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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 116 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: wound · court · degree · pound · bass · pop · kid · pit

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. pop — soda
  3. court — for sport
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. pit — in a race
  6. kid — to tease
  7. pound — a weight
  8. court — of a king
  9. court — of law
  10. wound — an injury
  11. bass — low music
  12. degree — an amount
  13. pit — a hole
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. wound — an injury
  16. degree — from a university
  17. bass — the fish
  18. pop — to visit
  19. kid — child
  20. pop — music
  21. degree — temperature
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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