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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 116 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: cue · last · hand · degree · wind · chair · content · mine

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. cue — a hint
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. degree — temperature
  5. degree — an amount
  6. degree — from a university
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. hand — help
  9. cue — for pool
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. last — to go on
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. chair — a leader
  15. last — final
  16. mine — for digging
  17. hand — in cards
  18. cue — a signal
  19. content — happy
  20. content — the amount
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. last — finally
  23. wind — moving air
  24. hand — part of the body

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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