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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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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: club · pitch · face · clip · degree · wind

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. clip — for paper
  3. degree — temperature
  4. clip — a video
  5. face — to confront
  6. face — to point toward
  7. wind — moving air
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. club — for golf
  10. club — a group
  11. degree — an amount
  12. clip — to cut
  13. club — for dancing
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. face — part of the head
  16. wind — moving air
  17. degree — from a university
  18. pitch — a sports field

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