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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: straw · pass · net · pitch · degree · pop · last · clip

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. degree — from a university
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. degree — temperature
  5. net — in sport
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. pass — a permit
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. last — to go on
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. pass — to spend time
  14. clip — to cut
  15. degree — an amount
  16. last — final
  17. pop — to visit
  18. clip — for paper
  19. pop — music
  20. net — after costs
  21. pitch — completely
  22. net — for catching
  23. clip — a video
  24. last — finally

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