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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: bore · pitcher · content · mine · degree · pitch

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bore — to tire
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. bore — to drill
  8. degree — from a university
  9. pitch — completely
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — for digging
  15. degree — temperature
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. content — the amount
  18. bore — gave birth

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