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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kick · ball · degree · capital · object · pass · chair · last

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. last — final
  4. chair — a leader
  5. degree — an amount
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. object — to protest
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. capital — a city
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. object — an aim
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. ball — a great time
  16. object — a thing
  17. degree — from a university
  18. degree — temperature
  19. pass — a permit
  20. ball — a dance
  21. last — finally
  22. kick — in football
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. capital — money

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