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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. bank — for money
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. cell — a phone
  7. degree — from a university
  8. file — a document
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. ball — a great time
  11. chair — a leader
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. bank — for money
  14. degree — temperature
  15. cell — in biology
  16. file — a line of people
  17. degree — an amount
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. game — a match
  20. file — a tool
  21. ball — a dance
  22. game — wild animals
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. bank — of a river

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