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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: date · dip · pitch · last · ground · hand · pitcher · kid

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  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. pitcher — a jug
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. kid — child
  5. dip — to sink
  6. ground — the earth
  7. last — final
  8. hand — help
  9. date — the fruit
  10. last — finally
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. pitch — completely
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. ground — a position
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. kid — to tease
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. hand — in cards
  19. ground — crushed
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. last — to go on
  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