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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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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: pitch · wind · racket · ground · bat · degree · foot · sharp

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — temperature
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. wind — moving air
  10. bat — the animal
  11. sharp — clever
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. degree — an amount
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. foot — a measure
  18. ground — a position
  19. pitch — completely
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. ground — the earth
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. wind — moving air

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