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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: pitch · row · swing · chest · degree · file

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  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. degree — an amount
  2. file — a tool
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. row — a line
  5. swing — music
  6. file — a document
  7. degree — temperature
  8. chest — a box
  9. chest — of your body
  10. pitch — completely
  11. swing — in golf
  12. row — to paddle
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. file — a line of people
  15. chest — of your body
  16. swing — to play on
  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