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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 116 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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. race — the arms race
  3. chair — a leader
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. land — ground
  6. fine — all right
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. ball — a dance
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. degree — an amount
  14. land — a country
  15. ball — a great time
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. fine — high quality
  18. degree — temperature
  19. race — humankind
  20. race — a contest
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. land — to come down
  24. trunk — of a car

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