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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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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: degree · court · safe · file · pound · straw · chair · sharp

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. He has no idea where the ________________ is.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. degree — from a university
  3. chair — a leader
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. degree — an amount
  6. court — of law
  7. sharp — clever
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. degree — temperature
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. court — of a king
  17. file — a line of people
  18. pound — a weight
  19. file — a document
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. court — for sport
  24. safe — a strongbox

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