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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: clip · chair · cold · degree · pound · season · charge · pitcher

  1. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The tickets are free of ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. season — of the year
  3. chair — a leader
  4. season — in sport
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. charge — a price
  10. clip — to cut
  11. degree — an amount
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. degree — temperature
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. degree — from a university
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. clip — a video
  20. cold — an illness
  21. pound — a weight
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. clip — for paper
  24. charge — in control

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