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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 116 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. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. clip — for paper
  4. chair — a leader
  5. snap — to click
  6. degree — temperature
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. sharp — clever
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. degree — an amount
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — a video
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. board — a committee
  18. cold — not warm
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. pass — a permit
  21. degree — from a university
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. cold — an illness
  24. board — a flat piece

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