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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: clip · board · kid · degree · pitch · land · tube · arm

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. degree — temperature
  4. tube — a container
  5. land — a country
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. clip — to cut
  8. kid — to tease
  9. degree — from a university
  10. degree — an amount
  11. pitch — completely
  12. kid — child
  13. clip — a video
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. land — to come down
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. clip — for paper
  18. board — to get on
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. land — ground
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. board — a committee
  24. tube — the underground

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