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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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The tickets are free of ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. chair — a leader
  4. game — a match
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — from a university
  7. game — wild animals
  8. mine — for digging
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. degree — an amount
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. craft — boats
  16. charge — electricity
  17. stock — shares
  18. shower — rain
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. charge — in control
  21. stock — goods
  22. shower — to wash
  23. charge — a price
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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