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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: roll · net · row · tear · last · bat · degree · pitcher

  1. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. net — in sport
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. degree — an amount
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. roll — a cake
  7. last — finally
  8. tear — from crying
  9. net — for catching
  10. net — after costs
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. bat — the animal
  13. tear — from crying
  14. degree — temperature
  15. tear — to rip
  16. row — to paddle
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. degree — from a university
  19. last — to go on
  20. last — final
  21. row — a line
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. pitcher — a jug

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