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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 116 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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. shower — to wash
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. net — for catching
  5. race — humankind
  6. net — after costs
  7. board — to get on
  8. degree — from a university
  9. cap — of ice
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. cap — a hat
  12. cap — a lid
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. chair — a leader
  16. shower — rain
  17. cell — in biology
  18. net — in sport
  19. degree — temperature
  20. race — a contest
  21. race — the arms race
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. degree — an amount
  24. board — a committee

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