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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: clip · chair · degree · dip · prune · cell · pass · pitcher

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. pass — a permit
  4. prune — to trim
  5. clip — for paper
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. clip — a video
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. dip — to sink
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. degree — temperature
  16. prune — to trim
  17. cell — a phone
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. chair — a leader
  21. clip — to cut
  22. cell — in biology
  23. degree — from a university
  24. chair — to sit on

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