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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. temple — side of the head
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. degree — an amount
  7. craft — a skill
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. degree — temperature
  10. fall — to drop
  11. fall — to drop
  12. clip — to cut
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. fall — the season
  15. degree — from a university
  16. clip — a video
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. chair — a leader
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. clip — for paper
  24. racket — for tennis

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