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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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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: perch · sharp · mine · pitch · spring · file · band · swing

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. sharp — clever
  3. swing — in golf
  4. spring — the season
  5. swing — music
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. file — a tool
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. perch — the fish
  16. swing — to play on
  17. mine — for digging
  18. spring — of water
  19. file — a line of people
  20. file — a document
  21. band — a music group
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. band — a ring
  24. spring — a coil

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