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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. ground — the earth
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. ground — a position
  7. cold — an illness
  8. chip — for betting
  9. chip — to eat
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cap — a lid
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. wake — a trail
  18. chair — a leader
  19. cap — a hat
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. degree — temperature
  22. ground — crushed
  23. cap — of ice
  24. degree — an amount

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