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

Word bank: kick · bank · scale · chair · chest · cold · degree · pitch

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — a box
  4. chest — of your body
  5. cold — an illness
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. scale — size or range
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. degree — temperature
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. pitch — completely
  12. bank — of a river
  13. chair — a leader
  14. bank — for money
  15. bank — for money
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. degree — from a university
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. scale — in music
  21. degree — an amount
  22. cold — not warm
  23. kick — in football
  24. kick — with a leg

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