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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. season — of the year
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. degree — temperature
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. pitch — completely
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. cell — in biology
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. wake — a trail
  16. season — in sport
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. sharp — clever
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. degree — from a university
  22. cell — a phone
  23. degree — an amount
  24. chair — a leader

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