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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: straw · march · ground · bowl · bat · spring · pitch · hand

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. hand — in cards
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. ground — a position
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. ground — crushed
  8. hand — help
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. march — the month
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. march — the month
  13. pitch — completely
  14. march — music
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. spring — the season
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. spring — a coil
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. ground — the earth
  23. spring — of water
  24. bat — in an idiom

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