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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. root — of a word
  3. chair — a leader
  4. degree — an amount
  5. dip — to sink
  6. root — of a plant
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. field — farmland
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. mate — to breed
  11. field — for sport
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. chip — for betting
  14. mate — a partner
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. mate — a friend
  17. root — the cause
  18. chip — to eat
  19. degree — temperature
  20. field — a subject
  21. degree — from a university
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — of water
  24. spring — the season

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