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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: pit · bear · cold · drill · plane · wind · pitch · content

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. pitch — completely
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. pit — a hole
  7. drill — army training
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. content — happy
  12. bear — the animal
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. bear — the animal
  17. drill — a practice
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. plane — a tool
  20. pit — in a race
  21. drill — the tool
  22. content — the amount
  23. wind — moving air
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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