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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.

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: content · degree · sharp · leaves · calf · cold · fall · court

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. degree — from a university
  3. cold — an illness
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. fall — to drop
  7. content — the amount
  8. degree — temperature
  9. cold — not warm
  10. sharp — clever
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. court — for sport
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. court — of law
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. leaves — lets stay
  17. degree — an amount
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. court — of a king
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. content — happy
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. fall — the season

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