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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. file — a tool
  4. cell — in biology
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. cell — a phone
  7. chair — a leader
  8. file — a line of people
  9. file — a document
  10. kid — child
  11. degree — an amount
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. degree — temperature
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. degree — from a university
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. content — the amount
  21. sharp — clever
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. kid — to tease
  24. content — happy

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