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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. pitch — completely
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. degree — from a university
  7. bat — the animal
  8. file — a document
  9. file — a line of people
  10. degree — temperature
  11. file — a tool
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. season — in sport
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. mine — for digging
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. degree — an amount
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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