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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. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — to rule out
  2. chest — a box
  3. degree — temperature
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. kid — child
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. file — a tool
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chair — a leader
  11. file — a document
  12. file — a line of people
  13. kid — to tease
  14. rule — government
  15. capital — money
  16. capital — a city
  17. degree — from a university
  18. rule — a law
  19. degree — an amount
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. pop — music
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. pop — soda
  24. pop — to visit

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