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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: last · degree · jam · race · pitch · perch · capital · plane

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. jam — a tight spot
  3. perch — the fish
  4. plane — a tool
  5. pitch — completely
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. last — to go on
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. race — the arms race
  10. race — humankind
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. degree — an amount
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. last — finally
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. race — a contest
  19. degree — from a university
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. capital — money
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. capital — a city
  24. degree — temperature

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