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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 120 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: swing · cold · stem · fork · pitch · coach · tear · wound

  1. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. tear — to rip
  3. fork — in a road
  4. wound — an injury
  5. cold — an illness
  6. stem — to come from
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. tear — from crying
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. pitch — completely
  14. swing — in golf
  15. swing — to play on
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. cold — not warm
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. wound — an injury
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. tear — from crying
  24. swing — music

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