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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: fine · degree · clip · nail · pitch · cold · land · season

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. season — in sport
  3. fine — all right
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — for paper
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. degree — temperature
  10. land — ground
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. land — a country
  13. clip — to cut
  14. fine — high quality
  15. degree — an amount
  16. degree — from a university
  17. land — to come down
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. pitch — completely
  20. season — of the year
  21. cold — an illness
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. cold — not warm

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