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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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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 · drill · patient · bat · kid · craft · degree · chair

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. kid — to tease
  3. craft — a skill
  4. degree — from a university
  5. drill — the tool
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. chair — a leader
  8. bat — the animal
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. degree — an amount
  12. craft — boats
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. degree — temperature
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. drill — a practice
  21. drill — army training
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. kid — child

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