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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  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. degree — an amount
  2. race — a contest
  3. present — the time now
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. land — to come down
  6. degree — from a university
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. land — ground
  9. ground — crushed
  10. march — music
  11. race — the arms race
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. march — the month
  14. march — the month
  15. ground — a position
  16. present — a gift
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. present — there
  20. ground — the earth
  21. chair — a leader
  22. race — humankind
  23. land — a country
  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