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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. lean — thin
  3. safe — out of danger
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. degree — from a university
  6. land — ground
  7. safe — out of danger
  8. bat — the animal
  9. wound — an injury
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. wind — moving air
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. degree — temperature
  15. lean — to bend
  16. land — a country
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. safe — a strongbox
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. wound — an injury
  21. degree — an amount
  22. land — to come down
  23. wind — moving air
  24. chair — a professorship

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