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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. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. race — the arms race
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. race — humankind
  5. degree — an amount
  6. race — a contest
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bulb — for light
  9. press — newspapers
  10. cold — not warm
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. degree — temperature
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. rash — hasty
  16. wound — an injury
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. degree — from a university
  19. press — to push
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. rash — a series
  22. wound — an injury
  23. bulb — for light
  24. press — a publisher

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