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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. bass — the fish
  3. content — happy
  4. pop — to visit
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. degree — temperature
  8. pop — soda
  9. degree — an amount
  10. chair — a leader
  11. lean — thin
  12. bark — to shout
  13. degree — from a university
  14. lean — to bend
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. snap — to click
  18. pop — music
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. content — the amount
  22. bass — low music
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. content — videos and posts

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