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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. race — a contest
  3. hand — in cards
  4. content — the amount
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. spring — of water
  8. degree — temperature
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. lie — to recline
  11. race — the arms race
  12. spring — the season
  13. content — happy
  14. degree — from a university
  15. hand — help
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. race — humankind
  18. degree — an amount
  19. spring — a coil
  20. bear — the animal
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. bear — the animal
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. bear — to put up with

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