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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 124 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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. degree — temperature
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. chair — a leader
  5. degree — an amount
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. game — a match
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. game — wild animals
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. band — a music group
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. kick — in football
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. degree — from a university
  23. band — a ring
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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