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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. present — there
  3. degree — an amount
  4. bore — to drill
  5. degree — from a university
  6. chair — a leader
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. last — finally
  9. content — the amount
  10. degree — temperature
  11. last — final
  12. bore — to tire
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. last — to go on
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. content — happy
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. present — a gift
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — a subject
  22. present — the time now
  23. field — for sport
  24. nail — for a hammer

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