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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The tickets are free of ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. charge — electricity
  3. wind — moving air
  4. capital — a city
  5. charge — in control
  6. saw — the tool
  7. capital — money
  8. wind — moving air
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. hand — in cards
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. degree — from a university
  13. chair — a leader
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. charge — a price
  18. hand — help
  19. degree — an amount
  20. chest — a box
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. saw — the tool
  23. degree — temperature
  24. wind — to turn a key

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