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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 116 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 · straw · pitch · rest · ground · last · branch · degree

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. ground — crushed
  3. clip — for paper
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. ground — the earth
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. ground — a position
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. degree — an amount
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. rest — a break
  13. last — final
  14. branch — a division
  15. rest — what's left
  16. last — finally
  17. last — to go on
  18. clip — to cut
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. rest — what's left
  21. degree — temperature
  22. degree — from a university
  23. clip — a video
  24. branch — of a tree

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