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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: pitcher · press · bark · degree · bulb · row · clip · march

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bark — to shout
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. press — newspapers
  6. row — a line
  7. row — to paddle
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. degree — temperature
  12. bulb — for light
  13. press — to push
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. press — a publisher
  16. clip — a video
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. clip — for paper
  19. march — music
  20. march — the month
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. march — the month
  23. bulb — for light
  24. clip — to cut

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