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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: chest · bear · pitch · plane · net · degree · tube · rule

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. bear — the animal
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. chest — of your body
  6. net — in sport
  7. net — for catching
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. rule — a law
  10. chest — of your body
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. tube — the underground
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. pitch — completely
  16. degree — temperature
  17. degree — from a university
  18. tube — a container
  19. net — after costs
  20. chest — a box
  21. plane — a tool
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. bear — the animal
  24. rule — government

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