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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: pound · pitch · mine · wound · degree · date · clip · row

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. row — to paddle
  4. wound — an injury
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. wound — an injury
  7. degree — from a university
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. degree — an amount
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. clip — for paper
  14. date — the fruit
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. pound — a weight
  19. clip — a video
  20. row — a line
  21. mine — for digging
  22. pitch — completely
  23. degree — temperature
  24. pound — to hit hard

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