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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 116 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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Where did you ________________ them?
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. chair — a leader
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. staff — employees
  5. degree — an amount
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. degree — from a university
  8. stock — goods
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. degree — temperature
  12. staff — a stick
  13. staff — employees
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. shower — to wash
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. game — a match
  18. mug — a cup
  19. shower — rain
  20. mug — to rob
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. mug — a face
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. game — wild animals

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