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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: cap · pitcher · root · pitch · clip · swing · cold · bat

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. swing — in golf
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. cap — a lid
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. cold — an illness
  11. clip — for paper
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. swing — music
  14. swing — to play on
  15. root — of a plant
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. bat — the animal
  19. clip — a video
  20. pitch — completely
  21. cap — of ice
  22. root — the cause
  23. root — of a word
  24. pitcher — a jug

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