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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. capital — a city
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. squash — to crush
  6. file — a tool
  7. bound — tied together
  8. file — a document
  9. face — to confront
  10. bound — certain
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. face — to point toward
  13. capital — money
  14. sharp — clever
  15. degree — temperature
  16. bound — obliged
  17. squash — the sport
  18. face — part of the head
  19. file — a line of people
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. degree — an amount
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. chair — a leader

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