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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: degree · mine · chair · ground · pitch · bowl · perch · toast

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. mine — for digging
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. perch — the fish
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. chair — a leader
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. toast — bread
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. ground — the earth
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. degree — an amount
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — temperature
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. pitch — completely
  24. ground — a position

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