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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 had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. degree — from a university
  5. sharp — clever
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. swing — music
  9. swing — to play on
  10. swing — in golf
  11. degree — temperature
  12. safe — a strongbox
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. spell — magic
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. row — a line
  17. spell — letters
  18. chair — a leader
  19. degree — an amount
  20. row — to paddle
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. spell — a short time

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