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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 · pitch · bat · saw · pound · cap · clip · date

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. date — the fruit
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. saw — the tool
  10. pound — a weight
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. clip — for paper
  14. degree — from a university
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. saw — the tool
  17. clip — to cut
  18. cap — a hat
  19. clip — a video
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. pitch — completely
  22. degree — temperature
  23. cap — a lid
  24. pitch — a sports field

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