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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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: fan · squash · fall · degree · chair · sharp · kid · ground

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. degree — from a university
  3. sharp — clever
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. fall — to drop
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. ground — crushed
  8. ground — a position
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. squash — the sport
  11. fall — the season
  12. chair — a leader
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. degree — temperature
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. squash — to crush
  17. kid — child
  18. fall — to drop
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. kid — to tease
  21. degree — an amount
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. ground — the earth

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