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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 ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. ground — the earth
  3. chair — a leader
  4. fork — in a road
  5. date — the fruit
  6. degree — temperature
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. degree — an amount
  10. kick — in football
  11. clip — to cut
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. ground — crushed
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — a video
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. mine — for digging
  24. ground — a position

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