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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. wound — an injury
  6. capital — money
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. wax — to grow
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. degree — from a university
  13. wound — an injury
  14. last — final
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. degree — an amount
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. degree — temperature
  19. capital — a city
  20. chair — a leader
  21. last — finally
  22. last — to go on
  23. sharp — clever
  24. fan — to cool the air

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