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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 116 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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. degree — from a university
  3. swing — music
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. chair — a leader
  6. pop — soda
  7. pop — music
  8. degree — temperature
  9. wound — an injury
  10. swing — to play on
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. wound — an injury
  14. drill — the tool
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. drill — army training
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. swing — in golf
  20. pop — to visit
  21. drill — a practice
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. degree — an amount
  24. dip — to sink

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