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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 120 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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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: mate · ground · trunk · pitch · fork · stick · straw · degree

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. mate — a friend
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. mate — to breed
  8. ground — a position
  9. fork — in a road
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. degree — temperature
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. ground — crushed
  14. degree — from a university
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. degree — an amount
  17. pitch — completely
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. ground — the earth

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