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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: chair · rash · land · jam · degree · game · cold · present

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. rash — a series
  3. degree — from a university
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. chair — a leader
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. land — ground
  8. game — wild animals
  9. degree — an amount
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. cold — not warm
  12. present — a gift
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. game — a match
  15. degree — temperature
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — an illness
  19. land — a country
  20. present — the time now
  21. rash — hasty
  22. present — there
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. land — to come down

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