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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: chair · scale · season · cold · pitch · court · press · mate

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. scale — size or range
  3. court — for sport
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. court — of law
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. court — of a king
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. mate — a partner
  12. press — a publisher
  13. chair — a leader
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. press — to push
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. press — newspapers
  18. season — of the year
  19. scale — in music
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. season — in sport
  22. mate — to breed
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. pitch — completely

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