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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. degree — an amount
  3. degree — temperature
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. kid — child
  6. wind — moving air
  7. face — part of the head
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. face — to point toward
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. chair — a leader
  14. band — a music group
  15. rock — music
  16. rock — a stone
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. face — to confront
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. degree — from a university
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. wind — moving air
  23. band — a ring
  24. kid — to tease

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