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

Word bank: content · present · fall · pitch · cold · straw

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. content — the amount
  4. content — happy
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. present — the time now
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. present — there
  11. fall — to drop
  12. fall — to drop
  13. cold — not warm
  14. fall — the season
  15. pitch — completely
  16. present — a gift
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. straw — to clutch at straws

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