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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: nail · degree · bark · content · cell · pitch · drill · press

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. pitch — completely
  3. degree — from a university
  4. drill — the tool
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. press — a publisher
  7. press — newspapers
  8. degree — an amount
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. cell — in biology
  12. drill — a practice
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. bark — to shout
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. content — happy
  17. content — the amount
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. degree — temperature
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. press — to push
  23. drill — army training
  24. content — videos and posts

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