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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. degree — from a university
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. sharp — clever
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. march — the month
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wind — moving air
  10. pass — to spend time
  11. wind — moving air
  12. pitch — completely
  13. degree — temperature
  14. pass — to succeed
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. march — the month
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. capital — money
  20. degree — an amount
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. capital — a city
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. march — music

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