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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. bank — for money
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. chair — a leader
  6. dip — to sink
  7. race — a contest
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. degree — temperature
  10. degree — from a university
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. race — the arms race
  13. lean — to bend
  14. content — happy
  15. race — humankind
  16. lean — thin
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. root — of a plant
  19. bank — of a river
  20. content — the amount
  21. bank — for money
  22. root — of a word
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. root — the cause

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