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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: kid · clip · date · pitch · season · scale · land · degree

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. season — of the year
  3. clip — to cut
  4. season — in sport
  5. land — ground
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. kid — child
  8. clip — a video
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. land — a country
  11. clip — for paper
  12. land — to come down
  13. degree — temperature
  14. scale — size or range
  15. degree — an amount
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. kid — to tease
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. date — the fruit
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. scale — in music
  22. degree — from a university
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. season — to add flavour

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