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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: arm · object · degree · hand · court · row · last · tear

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. object — to protest
  3. court — of law
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — from crying
  6. hand — in cards
  7. tear — to rip
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. last — finally
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. degree — from a university
  13. degree — an amount
  14. object — an aim
  15. last — to go on
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. row — to paddle
  18. hand — help
  19. row — a line
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. degree — temperature
  22. court — of a king
  23. court — for sport
  24. object — a thing

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