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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. spell — letters
  4. scale — in music
  5. craft — a skill
  6. spell — magic
  7. chair — a leader
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. wind — moving air
  12. scale — size or range
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. degree — an amount
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. spell — a short time
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. wind — moving air
  21. cold — not warm
  22. degree — temperature
  23. cold — an illness
  24. craft — boats

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