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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: snap · cap · row · prune · wind · chair · degree · pitch

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. wind — moving air
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. degree — temperature
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. chair — a leader
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. cap — of ice
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. wind — moving air
  13. degree — from a university
  14. cap — a lid
  15. prune — to trim
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. prune — to trim
  18. cap — a hat
  19. row — to paddle
  20. row — a line
  21. degree — an amount
  22. pitch — completely
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. wind — to turn a key

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