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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: bat · club · degree · drill · sharp · spell · prune · pitch

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. degree — from a university
  3. spell — letters
  4. spell — a short time
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. pitch — completely
  10. club — for dancing
  11. sharp — clever
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. club — for golf
  15. bat — the animal
  16. spell — magic
  17. club — a group
  18. degree — temperature
  19. drill — army training
  20. drill — the tool
  21. prune — to trim
  22. drill — a practice
  23. degree — an amount
  24. prune — to trim

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