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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 120 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: degree · chest · wind · last · trunk · chair · row · mug

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. Where did you ________________ them?
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. degree — from a university
  3. last — finally
  4. last — final
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. wind — moving air
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. last — to go on
  10. mug — a cup
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. mug — a face
  13. row — a line
  14. degree — temperature
  15. chest — of your body
  16. row — to paddle
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. chest — of your body
  20. wind — moving air
  21. degree — an amount
  22. chair — a leader
  23. mug — to rob
  24. chest — a box

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