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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. chair — a leader
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. degree — an amount
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. swing — to play on
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. branch — a division
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. bark — to shout
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. wake — a trail
  15. degree — from a university
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. swing — in golf
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. band — a music group
  22. band — a ring
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. degree — temperature

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