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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: degree · content · key · season · arm · kid · chair · cell

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. degree — an amount
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. chair — a leader
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. degree — temperature
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. key — for a lock
  9. cell — a phone
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. key — the most important part
  12. content — happy
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. content — the amount
  15. cell — in biology
  16. key — in music
  17. kid — child
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. kid — to tease
  22. degree — from a university
  23. season — in sport
  24. arm — part of the body

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