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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: cold · pitch · rest · spring · race · fall

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. rest — what's left
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. rest — what's left
  6. cold — an illness
  7. spring — a coil
  8. pitch — completely
  9. fall — to drop
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. race — humankind
  12. race — a contest
  13. fall — to drop
  14. spring — the season
  15. fall — the season
  16. rest — a break
  17. spring — of water
  18. race — the arms race

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