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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. squash — the sport
  4. prune — to trim
  5. present — a gift
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. prune — to trim
  8. present — there
  9. hand — in cards
  10. craft — a skill
  11. squash — to crush
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. craft — boats
  14. degree — from a university
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. perch — the fish
  18. chair — a leader
  19. degree — temperature
  20. hand — help
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. present — the time now
  24. degree — an amount

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