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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. craft — a skill
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. clip — a video
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. land — ground
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. staff — employees
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. present — there
  11. present — the time now
  12. prune — to trim
  13. craft — boats
  14. land — to come down
  15. degree — temperature
  16. degree — from a university
  17. clip — for paper
  18. present — a gift
  19. staff — employees
  20. staff — a stick
  21. pitch — completely
  22. clip — to cut
  23. land — a country
  24. prune — to trim

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