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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: snap · degree · land · press · bat · pitch · temple · clip

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. snap — to click
  3. degree — from a university
  4. clip — a video
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. clip — to cut
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. press — newspapers
  9. press — to push
  10. land — to come down
  11. press — a publisher
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. degree — an amount
  15. land — a country
  16. bat — the animal
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. land — ground
  19. pitch — completely
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. degree — temperature
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. bat — in an idiom

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