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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. degree — from a university
  3. track — a song
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. file — a tool
  9. degree — an amount
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. degree — temperature
  12. kid — child
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. hand — in cards
  15. track — to keep track
  16. kid — to tease
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. hand — help
  19. file — a line of people
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. track — a path
  22. file — a document
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. chair — a leader

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