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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: chair · press · cold · fork · land · pop · craft · degree

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. cold — not warm
  3. degree — from a university
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. cold — an illness
  6. land — a country
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. fork — in a road
  11. degree — temperature
  12. press — newspapers
  13. craft — boats
  14. land — ground
  15. pop — soda
  16. press — to push
  17. pop — music
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. press — a publisher
  20. land — to come down
  21. craft — a skill
  22. pop — to visit
  23. degree — an amount
  24. chair — a leader

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