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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. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. spring — of water
  4. snap — to click
  5. degree — an amount
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. wind — moving air
  11. degree — temperature
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. chair — a leader
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. wound — an injury
  17. rush — hurry
  18. degree — from a university
  19. wind — moving air
  20. spring — a coil
  21. spring — the season
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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