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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. chair — a leader
  3. chest — of your body
  4. stock — shares
  5. degree — from a university
  6. chest — a box
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. snap — to click
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. wind — moving air
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. stock — goods
  15. bat — the animal
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. degree — temperature
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. wind — moving air
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. bowl — to roll

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