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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. degree — from a university
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. chair — a leader
  5. file — a tool
  6. degree — temperature
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. object — to protest
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. file — a line of people
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. ground — the earth
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. degree — an amount
  16. object — an aim
  17. object — a thing
  18. snap — to click
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. ground — crushed
  21. file — a document
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. ground — a position
  24. branch — a division

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