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

Word bank: mug · wind · temple · prune · pitch · capital · degree · chair

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. prune — to trim
  3. capital — money
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. mug — a cup
  6. degree — an amount
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. chair — a leader
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. mug — to rob
  13. degree — temperature
  14. prune — to trim
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. wind — moving air
  17. capital — a city
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. pitch — completely
  21. degree — from a university
  22. mug — a face
  23. wind — moving air
  24. temple — side of the head

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