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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.

Make a worksheet

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: bowl · march · degree · mine · wind · pitch

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. degree — from a university
  6. mine — for digging
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. degree — temperature
  9. degree — an amount
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — moving air
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. march — the month
  16. march — music
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. march — the month

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