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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: foot · pitch · ball · wind · land · cold · capital · straw

  1. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — the bottom
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. ball — a great time
  4. cold — not warm
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. foot — a measure
  7. land — ground
  8. ball — a dance
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. capital — money
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. capital — a city
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. wind — moving air
  20. land — to come down
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. cold — an illness
  23. land — a country
  24. pitch — completely

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