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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. degree — an amount
  3. net — for catching
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. chair — a leader
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. net — after costs
  13. net — in sport
  14. degree — temperature
  15. lean — to bend
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. stock — shares
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. stock — goods
  21. degree — from a university
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. bat — the animal
  24. trunk — of a tree

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