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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.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. cold — not warm
  3. degree — from a university
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. degree — an amount
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. chip — for betting
  8. staff — a stick
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. chip — to eat
  12. chair — a leader
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. degree — temperature
  15. staff — employees
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. staff — employees
  18. arm — a part of something

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