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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: hand · degree · chest · cell · mug · perch · vault · present

  1. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — in gymnastics
  2. hand — help
  3. chest — of your body
  4. mug — to rob
  5. chest — of your body
  6. present — a gift
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. degree — from a university
  9. degree — temperature
  10. chest — a box
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. vault — a safe
  13. mug — a cup
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. perch — the fish
  16. hand — in cards
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. cell — a phone
  19. present — the time now
  20. present — there
  21. cell — in biology
  22. degree — an amount
  23. mug — a face
  24. perch — for a bird

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