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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. chair — a leader
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. snap — to click
  5. hand — help
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. branch — a division
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. degree — an amount
  11. can — to be able to
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. hand — in cards
  18. row — a line
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. can — a tin
  22. row — to paddle
  23. can — a tin
  24. degree — temperature

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