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

Word bank: degree · chair · drill · kid · pitch · tear

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  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. chair — to sit on
  2. pitch — completely
  3. degree — from a university
  4. tear — from crying
  5. drill — a practice
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. degree — temperature
  8. kid — to tease
  9. chair — a leader
  10. drill — army training
  11. kid — child
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. degree — an amount
  14. tear — to rip
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. tear — from crying
  17. drill — the tool
  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