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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. degree — from a university
  3. rush — hurry
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. bank — for money
  7. bank — of a river
  8. deal — to handle
  9. clip — for paper
  10. bank — for money
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. clip — to cut
  15. chair — a leader
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. scale — in music
  19. degree — temperature
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. degree — an amount
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. scale — size or range
  24. clip — a video

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