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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: fork · clip · mug · wound · saw · degree · pitch · last

  1. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a cup
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. degree — from a university
  4. clip — a video
  5. degree — temperature
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. saw — the tool
  8. clip — to cut
  9. mug — a face
  10. mug — to rob
  11. pitch — completely
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. last — final
  14. degree — an amount
  15. wound — an injury
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. clip — for paper
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. wound — an injury
  21. last — finally
  22. fork — in a road
  23. saw — the tool
  24. last — to go on

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