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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: bat · plane · pit · tube · kid · board · degree · clip

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  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. tube — a container
  2. tube — the underground
  3. pit — in a race
  4. clip — a video
  5. degree — an amount
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. clip — for paper
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. plane — a tool
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. kid — child
  14. degree — from a university
  15. board — to get on
  16. clip — to cut
  17. kid — to tease
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. board — a committee
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — the animal
  23. pit — a hole
  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