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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  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. chair — a professorship
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. capital — a city
  4. dip — to sink
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. field — for sport
  8. field — a subject
  9. field — farmland
  10. chair — a leader
  11. capital — money
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. pitch — completely
  14. degree — an amount
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. rash — a series
  17. degree — temperature
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. pass — a permit
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. rash — hasty
  23. degree — from a university
  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