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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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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: pitch · shower · ground · date · hide · content · sharp · row

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. ground — crushed
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. sharp — clever
  7. row — a line
  8. content — happy
  9. row — to paddle
  10. pitch — completely
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. ground — a position
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. date — the fruit
  16. shower — rain
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. shower — to wash
  21. ground — the earth
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. hide — animal skin

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