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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: drill · race · dip · degree · land · bowl · rock · pitch

  1. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  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. rock — to move gently
  2. race — a contest
  3. degree — from a university
  4. land — a country
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. dip — to sink
  7. degree — an amount
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. rock — music
  10. land — ground
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. race — the arms race
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. pitch — completely
  15. drill — the tool
  16. drill — army training
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. land — to come down
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. drill — a practice
  22. rock — a stone
  23. race — humankind
  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