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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 120 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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. season — of the year
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. game — wild animals
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. land — a country
  11. capital — money
  12. land — ground
  13. perch — the fish
  14. game — a match
  15. land — to come down
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. degree — an amount
  18. capital — a city
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. degree — from a university
  21. tube — the underground
  22. season — in sport
  23. tube — a container
  24. pitch — completely

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