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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: degree · date · bound · pitch · band · swing · chest · calf

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. bound — certain
  3. pitch — completely
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. band — a ring
  6. chest — of your body
  7. degree — from a university
  8. degree — an amount
  9. swing — to play on
  10. chest — of your body
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. bound — tied together
  13. degree — temperature
  14. date — the fruit
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. band — a music group
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. swing — music
  21. swing — in golf
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. chest — a box
  24. pitch — a sports field

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