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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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468
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: field · prune · toast · degree · pitch · wound · clip · cabinet

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. What do you think of the new ________________?
  23. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. prune — to trim
  4. clip — a video
  5. toast — the most admired
  6. clip — to cut
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. prune — to trim
  9. toast — bread
  10. degree — from a university
  11. wound — an injury
  12. field — a subject
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. field — farmland
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. wound — an injury
  17. field — for sport
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. clip — for paper
  20. pitch — completely
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. toast — a drink to someone
  24. degree — temperature

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