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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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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: mate · wound · degree · board · chair · can · cold · pitch

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. cold — an illness
  3. wound — an injury
  4. can — a tin
  5. wound — an injury
  6. mate — a partner
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. mate — to breed
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. degree — an amount
  13. degree — from a university
  14. can — a tin
  15. board — a committee
  16. can — to be able to
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. degree — temperature
  19. mate — a friend
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. pitch — completely
  22. cold — not warm
  23. board — to get on
  24. chair — a professorship

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