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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. chair — a leader
  3. chip — to eat
  4. rash — hasty
  5. chip — for betting
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. degree — temperature
  9. cell — in biology
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. cell — a phone
  12. march — music
  13. march — the month
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. degree — an amount
  16. capital — money
  17. march — the month
  18. capital — a city
  19. rash — a series
  20. toast — the most admired
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. toast — bread

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