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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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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: game · wake · ruler · sharp · court · degree · rash · file

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. ruler — for measuring
  3. sharp — clever
  4. degree — an amount
  5. rash — a series
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. degree — temperature
  9. wake — a trail
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. court — of law
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. degree — from a university
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. game — a match
  17. court — for sport
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. file — a document
  20. ruler — a monarch
  21. game — wild animals
  22. rash — hasty
  23. file — a tool
  24. file — a line of people

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