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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: court · saw · object · rash · lean · degree · chest · cap

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. court — of law
  3. court — for sport
  4. cap — a lid
  5. lean — thin
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — an amount
  8. chest — of your body
  9. object — a thing
  10. object — to protest
  11. object — an aim
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. saw — the tool
  14. court — of a king
  15. cap — of ice
  16. cap — a hat
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. chest — of your body
  19. rash — a series
  20. saw — the tool
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. degree — temperature
  23. lean — to bend
  24. chest — a box

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