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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. degree — from a university
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. ball — a great time
  5. track — a path
  6. pitch — completely
  7. track — a song
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. degree — an amount
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. clip — a video
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. ball — a dance
  18. clip — to cut
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. clip — for paper
  22. track — to keep track
  23. fork — in a road
  24. nail — for a hammer

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