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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. chair — a leader
  4. rash — a series
  5. degree — an amount
  6. net — in sport
  7. wind — moving air
  8. degree — from a university
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. bat — the animal
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. season — in sport
  13. net — for catching
  14. wind — moving air
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. net — after costs
  19. bark — to shout
  20. rash — hasty
  21. season — of the year
  22. degree — temperature
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. bat — for baseball

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