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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 124 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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. degree — from a university
  3. chair — a leader
  4. pitch — completely
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. prune — to trim
  10. scale — in music
  11. court — for sport
  12. degree — an amount
  13. lie — to recline
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. court — of law
  17. court — of a king
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. scale — size or range
  22. degree — temperature
  23. prune — to trim
  24. bowl — to roll

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