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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: kid · mine · swing · pitch · wound · ruler · spring · rash

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. kid — to tease
  5. swing — to play on
  6. pitch — completely
  7. wound — an injury
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. spring — the season
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. kid — child
  12. spring — a coil
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. rash — a series
  18. rash — hasty
  19. swing — in golf
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. mine — for digging
  22. swing — music
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. spring — of water

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