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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. spring — of water
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. face — to point toward
  7. band — a ring
  8. last — final
  9. face — to confront
  10. kid — to tease
  11. last — finally
  12. last — to go on
  13. spring — the season
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. band — a music group
  16. pound — a weight
  17. pitch — completely
  18. spring — a coil
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. face — part of the head
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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