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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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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: pitcher · field · race · pitch · rule · press · key · cold

  1. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. race — humankind
  6. cold — an illness
  7. race — the arms race
  8. press — newspapers
  9. rule — government
  10. race — a contest
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. field — a subject
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. key — for a lock
  15. key — the most important part
  16. press — to push
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. pitch — completely
  19. key — in music
  20. field — for sport
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. press — a publisher
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. field — farmland

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