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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  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. chair — a leader
  2. cell — in biology
  3. rash — a series
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. rash — hasty
  6. snap — to click
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. prune — to trim
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. net — for catching
  11. degree — an amount
  12. cell — a phone
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. perch — the fish
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. net — in sport
  20. net — after costs
  21. prune — to trim
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. degree — temperature
  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