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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: arm · rule · degree · cold · court · lash · club · chair

  1. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. cold — an illness
  4. degree — temperature
  5. club — for dancing
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. rule — a law
  8. club — for golf
  9. cold — not warm
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. chair — a leader
  12. rule — government
  13. club — a group
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. court — of a king
  18. degree — an amount
  19. court — of law
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. court — for sport
  23. degree — from a university
  24. rule — to rule out

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