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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. cell — a phone
  3. degree — temperature
  4. degree — from a university
  5. court — of law
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. degree — an amount
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. last — to go on
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. last — finally
  13. cell — in biology
  14. court — for sport
  15. chair — a leader
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. pound — a weight
  21. chest — of your body
  22. court — of a king
  23. last — final
  24. chest — a box

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