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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 · kid · pitch · tube · capital · coach

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. tube — a container
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. capital — a city
  6. pitch — completely
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. cold — an illness
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. capital — money
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. kid — to tease
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. kid — child
  17. tube — the underground
  18. cold — not warm

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