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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: cold · chair · club · bat · degree · rule

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. club — for dancing
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. rule — a law
  8. degree — temperature
  9. bat — the animal
  10. cold — not warm
  11. degree — from a university
  12. chair — a leader
  13. degree — an amount
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. club — for golf
  17. cold — an illness
  18. rule — government

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