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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: file · field · pitch · root · row · cold · race · pitcher

  1. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  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. row — to paddle
  2. row — a line
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. race — the arms race
  5. file — a tool
  6. field — a subject
  7. root — of a word
  8. field — farmland
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. race — humankind
  11. root — of a plant
  12. race — a contest
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. field — for sport
  16. file — a document
  17. cold — an illness
  18. pitch — completely
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. root — the cause
  21. file — a line of people
  22. cold — not warm
  23. pitcher — a jug
  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