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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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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 · hand · current · saw · degree · capital · fall · game

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. saw — the tool
  3. degree — an amount
  4. game — wild animals
  5. capital — money
  6. current — of water
  7. chair — a leader
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. current — happening now
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. capital — a city
  13. fall — to drop
  14. game — a match
  15. fall — to drop
  16. degree — from a university
  17. current — electric
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. hand — help
  20. saw — the tool
  21. degree — temperature
  22. hand — in cards
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. fall — the season

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