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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 · degree · saw · straw · bear · mine · wave · pitch

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. pitch — completely
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. saw — the tool
  9. clip — to cut
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. saw — the tool
  13. bear — the animal
  14. bear — the animal
  15. clip — a video
  16. mine — for digging
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. degree — from a university
  22. degree — an amount
  23. clip — for paper
  24. degree — temperature

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