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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. season — of the year
  3. degree — an amount
  4. mug — a face
  5. mug — a cup
  6. capital — money
  7. present — the time now
  8. swing — in golf
  9. present — a gift
  10. content — happy
  11. mug — to rob
  12. swing — music
  13. content — the amount
  14. season — in sport
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. swing — to play on
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. march — the month
  19. march — the month
  20. capital — a city
  21. march — music
  22. degree — temperature
  23. present — there
  24. season — to add flavour

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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