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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 120 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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  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. pitch — a sales talk
  3. game — wild animals
  4. scale — in music
  5. pitch — completely
  6. scale — size or range
  7. court — for sport
  8. fall — the season
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. court — of law
  11. ground — the earth
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. ground — crushed
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. game — a match
  16. ground — a position
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. fall — to drop
  19. branch — a division
  20. court — of a king
  21. degree — from a university
  22. fall — to drop
  23. branch — of a bank
  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