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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. chair — a leader
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. drill — the tool
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. cold — an illness
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. spell — a short time
  13. drill — a practice
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. drill — army training
  16. cold — not warm
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. spell — letters
  19. degree — from a university
  20. spell — magic
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. craft — a skill
  23. craft — boats
  24. degree — an amount

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