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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: arm · hand · bark · stock · bat · pitch · cold · pass

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. You can't go backstage without a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. hand — in cards
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. pitch — completely
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. stock — goods
  17. hand — help
  18. pass — to succeed
  19. cold — not warm
  20. stock — shares
  21. bat — the animal
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. pass — a permit

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