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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 120 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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. kick — in football
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. clip — for paper
  6. degree — from a university
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. dip — to sink
  9. clip — a video
  10. degree — temperature
  11. chair — a leader
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. staff — employees
  18. cold — an illness
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. staff — a stick
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. staff — employees
  23. degree — an amount
  24. cold — the Cold War

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