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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. hand — in cards
  3. shower — to wash
  4. chair — a leader
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. shower — rain
  7. hand — help
  8. pitch — completely
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. roll — a cake
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. swing — to play on
  15. swing — music
  16. swing — in golf
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. roll — a list
  19. degree — temperature
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. degree — an amount
  22. fork — in a road
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. fork — to eat with

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