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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: pitch · season · date · jam · spring · hand · stock · degree

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. degree — from a university
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. date — the fruit
  7. stock — goods
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. spring — the season
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. degree — an amount
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. jam — in traffic
  14. stock — shares
  15. hand — help
  16. hand — in cards
  17. pitch — completely
  18. season — in sport
  19. spring — of water
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. season — of the year
  23. degree — temperature
  24. spring — a coil

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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