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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: lean · land · ruler · cold · saw · pitch · bat · mug

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. land — ground
  4. lean — to bend
  5. bat — the animal
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. mug — a cup
  10. mug — a face
  11. pitch — completely
  12. mug — to rob
  13. cold — an illness
  14. saw — the tool
  15. saw — the tool
  16. land — a country
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. land — to come down
  19. ruler — a monarch
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. 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