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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: pitch · branch · roll · date · degree · spring · chair · hand

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. degree — an amount
  4. roll — a cake
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. spring — a coil
  7. hand — help
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. chair — a leader
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. hand — in cards
  15. roll — a list
  16. pitch — completely
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. degree — temperature
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. degree — from a university
  21. date — the fruit
  22. branch — a division
  23. spring — of water
  24. branch — of a bank

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