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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 116 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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Word bank
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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: spring · mine · sharp · pitch · court · tube

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. mine — for digging
  3. spring — a coil
  4. court — of law
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. tube — the underground
  8. sharp — clever
  9. court — for sport
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. spring — of water
  13. tube — a container
  14. spring — the season
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. pitch — completely
  18. court — of a king

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