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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: last · tube · degree · pitch · key · band · race · spring

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. 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. last — final
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — a coil
  4. last — finally
  5. key — the most important part
  6. pitch — completely
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. degree — temperature
  10. race — the arms race
  11. degree — an amount
  12. key — for a lock
  13. race — a contest
  14. tube — the underground
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. last — to go on
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. key — in music
  19. spring — of water
  20. race — humankind
  21. tube — a container
  22. band — a music group
  23. band — a ring
  24. 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