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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  9. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. firm — decided
  5. field — for sport
  6. land — ground
  7. field — a subject
  8. firm — a company
  9. vault — a safe
  10. chest — of your body
  11. cold — not warm
  12. chest — of your body
  13. land — to come down
  14. cold — an illness
  15. chest — a box
  16. degree — an amount
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. firm — steady
  19. chair — a leader
  20. field — farmland
  21. degree — temperature
  22. land — a country
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. degree — from a university

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