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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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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 · tear · file · degree · present · pitch · club · prune

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. present — there
  3. prune — to trim
  4. degree — temperature
  5. tear — to rip
  6. club — for dancing
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. file — a line of people
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. present — the time now
  11. prune — to trim
  12. file — a tool
  13. tear — from crying
  14. file — a document
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. tear — from crying
  17. club — for golf
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. present — a gift
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. degree — from a university
  22. club — a group
  23. pitch — completely
  24. degree — an amount

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