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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: chair · hand · band · safe · clip · degree · fork · toast

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. clip — for paper
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. clip — a video
  6. hand — in cards
  7. clip — to cut
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. hand — help
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. degree — from a university
  14. band — a music group
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. degree — temperature
  17. safe — a strongbox
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. band — a ring
  20. chair — a leader
  21. toast — bread
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. fork — in a road
  24. degree — an amount

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