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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: degree · leaves · content · bark · clip · last · mug · pitch

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. mug — to rob
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. mug — a cup
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. pitch — completely
  9. last — final
  10. degree — from a university
  11. last — to go on
  12. content — the amount
  13. clip — to cut
  14. content — happy
  15. degree — temperature
  16. clip — a video
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. bark — to shout
  20. mug — a face
  21. last — finally
  22. clip — for paper
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. content — videos and posts

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