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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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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: club · pitch · face · clip · degree · wind · spring · mouse

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. mouse — for a computer
  4. clip — for paper
  5. degree — from a university
  6. wind — moving air
  7. face — part of the head
  8. clip — a video
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. club — a group
  11. pitch — completely
  12. face — to confront
  13. degree — an amount
  14. face — to point toward
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. club — for golf
  17. spring — of water
  18. degree — temperature
  19. club — for dancing
  20. spring — a coil
  21. clip — to cut
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. wind — moving air
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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