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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: toast · chest · chair · season · degree · wave

  1. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. degree — from a university
  4. season — in sport
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. degree — an amount
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. degree — temperature
  9. chest — of your body
  10. season — of the year
  11. chest — of your body
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. toast — bread
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. chair — a leader
  18. chest — a box

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