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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. degree — from a university
  3. track — to keep track
  4. march — the month
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. march — the month
  8. track — a song
  9. degree — an amount
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. mine — for digging
  14. ball — a dance
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. degree — temperature
  17. march — music
  18. track — a path
  19. stem — to come from
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. pitch — completely
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. pitch — a sports field

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