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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 120 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: fork · kid · temple · field · pitch · club · cold · sharp

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. pitch — completely
  3. club — for dancing
  4. field — for sport
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. cold — an illness
  7. sharp — clever
  8. cold — not warm
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. club — a group
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. kid — to tease
  15. fork — in a road
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. field — a subject
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. field — farmland
  22. kid — child
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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