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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 120 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: drill · pit · bank · pitch · wind · row · court · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. drill — army training
  3. court — of a king
  4. court — for sport
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bank — for money
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. row — to paddle
  9. court — of law
  10. wind — moving air
  11. pit — a hole
  12. drill — the tool
  13. pit — in a race
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. drill — a practice
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. bank — of a river
  18. degree — from a university
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. degree — temperature
  21. pitch — completely
  22. row — a line
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. bank — for money

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