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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 116 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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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 · squash · fork · season · row · coach · degree · clip

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. degree — an amount
  3. season — in sport
  4. chair — a leader
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — from a university
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. clip — to cut
  10. fork — in a road
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — a video
  13. squash — the sport
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. squash — to crush
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. row — to paddle
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. row — a line
  22. season — of the year
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. fork — to eat with

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