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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. cold — an illness
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. march — music
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. march — the month
  11. roll — a list
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. march — the month
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. pitch — completely
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. roll — a cake
  23. cold — not warm
  24. bark — to shout

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