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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. drill — the tool
  4. degree — an amount
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. chest — of your body
  7. squash — the sport
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. present — the time now
  10. drill — army training
  11. drill — a practice
  12. chest — of your body
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. degree — temperature
  15. bound — certain
  16. vault — a safe
  17. chest — a box
  18. chair — a leader
  19. bound — tied together
  20. present — a gift
  21. bound — obliged
  22. squash — to crush
  23. present — there
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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