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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: jam · face · bark · kid · degree · chair · mate · foot

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. mate — a partner
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. jam — a tight spot
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. mate — to breed
  7. degree — from a university
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. mate — a friend
  10. face — to point toward
  11. face — to confront
  12. chair — a leader
  13. jam — in traffic
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. foot — a measure
  18. degree — an amount
  19. bark — to shout
  20. face — part of the head
  21. jam — to spread on bread
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — child
  24. degree — temperature

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