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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. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. cell — a phone
  3. mark — a grade
  4. kid — to tease
  5. kid — child
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. squash — to crush
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. degree — from a university
  12. cell — in biology
  13. degree — an amount
  14. mark — a trace
  15. root — of a plant
  16. chip — for betting
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. root — the cause
  19. squash — the sport
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. degree — temperature
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. chair — a leader
  24. chip — to eat

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