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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. stem — to come from
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. rule — government
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. rest — what's left
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. degree — an amount
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. rest — what's left
  11. degree — temperature
  12. row — a line
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. game — a match
  17. chair — a leader
  18. rest — a break
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. rule — a law
  22. row — to paddle
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. game — wild animals

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