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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. chair — a leader
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. dip — to sink
  6. sharp — clever
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. degree — an amount
  9. land — ground
  10. land — to come down
  11. rash — hasty
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. rash — a series
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. degree — temperature
  18. saw — the tool
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. saw — the tool
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. degree — from a university

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