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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. wind — moving air
  3. degree — an amount
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. club — a group
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. wind — moving air
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. club — for dancing
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. rule — government
  13. fork — in a road
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. degree — from a university
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. club — for golf
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. chair — a leader
  21. content — happy
  22. content — the amount
  23. degree — temperature
  24. rule — a law

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