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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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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: drill · pit · pitch · craft · cold · degree · scale · stand

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. scale — size or range
  4. craft — a skill
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. drill — a practice
  7. cold — not warm
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. degree — an amount
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. drill — the tool
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. stand — to bear
  15. scale — in music
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. pitch — completely
  18. craft — boats
  19. degree — temperature
  20. pit — in a race
  21. cold — an illness
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. pit — a hole
  24. drill — army training

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