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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. When will it ________________ you to start?
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. field — for sport
  4. cold — an illness
  5. chair — a leader
  6. staff — employees
  7. rash — hasty
  8. degree — an amount
  9. bound — obliged
  10. field — a subject
  11. suit — in cards
  12. rash — a series
  13. staff — a stick
  14. degree — from a university
  15. suit — clothes
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. degree — temperature
  18. suit — to fit
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bound — certain
  22. field — farmland
  23. bound — tied together
  24. cold — the Cold War

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