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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. rash — hasty
  3. chest — a box
  4. bound — obliged
  5. bound — tied together
  6. degree — an amount
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. chest — of your body
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. kid — to tease
  12. degree — from a university
  13. bound — certain
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. degree — temperature
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. chair — a leader
  18. kid — child
  19. rash — a series
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. chest — of your body
  23. game — wild animals
  24. game — a match

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