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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: game · clip · net · jam · pitcher · fall · mine · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. clip — for paper
  3. jam — in traffic
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. net — after costs
  6. fall — the season
  7. net — for catching
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. mine — for digging
  10. net — in sport
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. degree — from a university
  14. fall — to drop
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. degree — temperature
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. game — wild animals
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. fall — to drop
  21. clip — a video
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. clip — to cut
  24. game — a match

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