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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. squash — the sport
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. rush — hurry
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. degree — from a university
  9. stock — goods
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. stock — shares
  12. firm — decided
  13. degree — temperature
  14. squash — to crush
  15. firm — a company
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. firm — steady
  18. bat — the animal
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. kid — child
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. degree — an amount
  24. chair — a leader

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