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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. fall — to drop
  3. cap — of ice
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. present — a gift
  6. cap — a hat
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. cap — a lid
  9. kid — to tease
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. kid — child
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. perch — the fish
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. degree — temperature
  17. chair — a leader
  18. degree — an amount
  19. present — the time now
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. fall — to drop
  22. fall — the season
  23. present — there
  24. perch — for a bird

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