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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. swing — to play on
  4. degree — from a university
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. key — the most important part
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. lean — to bend
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. fork — in a road
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. chest — a box
  13. lean — thin
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. swing — music
  16. chair — a leader
  17. chest — of your body
  18. key — for a lock
  19. key — in music
  20. chest — of your body
  21. degree — temperature
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. swing — in golf
  24. lean — to rest against

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