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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: fork · pitch · clip · wound · court · kid · fall · cold

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. fork — in a road
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. wound — an injury
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. cold — an illness
  7. kid — child
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. court — of a king
  12. clip — for paper
  13. kid — to tease
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. clip — to cut
  16. court — of law
  17. fall — the season
  18. clip — a video
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. fall — to drop
  21. court — for sport
  22. wound — an injury
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. fall — to drop

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