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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. degree — from a university
  3. chair — a leader
  4. degree — temperature
  5. spring — of water
  6. game — wild animals
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. degree — an amount
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. rash — hasty
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. rash — a series
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. spring — a coil
  24. spring — the season

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