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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 120 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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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 · pop · degree · pit · press · cell · snap · trunk

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. degree — from a university
  3. pop — to visit
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. pop — soda
  7. cell — a phone
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. press — a publisher
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. pop — music
  13. pit — a hole
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. cell — in biology
  17. press — newspapers
  18. pit — in a race
  19. degree — an amount
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. snap — to click
  22. degree — temperature
  23. pitch — completely
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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