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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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Word bank
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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: drill · kid · bass · cold · pitch · sharp · racket · court

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. kid — child
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bass — the fish
  9. court — of a king
  10. pitch — completely
  11. drill — army training
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. drill — the tool
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. sharp — clever
  17. kid — to tease
  18. court — of law
  19. bass — low music
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. drill — a practice
  24. court — for sport

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