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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. swing — in golf
  5. hand — in cards
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. chair — a leader
  8. craft — boats
  9. march — the month
  10. content — the amount
  11. craft — a skill
  12. march — music
  13. hand — help
  14. degree — temperature
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. degree — an amount
  17. content — happy
  18. march — the month
  19. tube — a container
  20. swing — to play on
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. degree — from a university
  23. swing — music
  24. content — videos and posts

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