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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: race · band · pitch · degree · tear · fine

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. degree — an amount
  3. band — a ring
  4. tear — from crying
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. tear — from crying
  8. fine — all right
  9. pitch — completely
  10. race — the arms race
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. fine — high quality
  13. degree — temperature
  14. race — a contest
  15. tear — to rip
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. band — a music group
  18. degree — from a university

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