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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.

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: pit · degree · hand · race · bowl · chair · tube · rash

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. degree — from a university
  3. degree — an amount
  4. chair — a leader
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. race — humankind
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. rash — hasty
  9. rash — a series
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. pit — a hole
  12. race — a contest
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. degree — temperature
  15. tube — a container
  16. pit — in a race
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. hand — in cards
  22. race — the arms race
  23. tube — the underground
  24. chair — to sit on

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