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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: pound · cell · straw · degree · roll · chair · race · lie

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. cell — in biology
  3. degree — from a university
  4. race — a contest
  5. chair — a leader
  6. race — the arms race
  7. roll — a list
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. roll — a cake
  10. cell — a phone
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. degree — an amount
  15. degree — temperature
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. pound — a weight
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. lie — to recline
  24. race — humankind

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