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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: chair · court · degree · shower · leaves · wind · pitch · jam

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. degree — from a university
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. jam — a tight spot
  5. shower — to wash
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. court — of a king
  9. degree — an amount
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. wind — moving air
  12. jam — in traffic
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. pitch — completely
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. court — of law
  19. shower — rain
  20. court — for sport
  21. degree — temperature
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. chair — a leader
  24. leaves — lets stay

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