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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: perch · cold · fine · pitch · swing · bat · bark · rash

  1. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. perch — the fish
  4. fine — all right
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. bat — the animal
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bark — to shout
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. swing — to play on
  14. swing — in golf
  15. cold — not warm
  16. rash — hasty
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pitch — completely
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. fine — high quality
  23. swing — music
  24. rash — a series

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