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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: stick · chest · pitch · bowl · race · cold

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. race — the arms race
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. pitch — completely
  8. race — a contest
  9. cold — not warm
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. chest — a box
  13. cold — an illness
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. race — humankind
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. bowl — to roll

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